Half a million pounds of funding allocated to the redevelopment of Craigavon Area Hospital is now subject to “capital allocation” from a Budget exercise… with commitment from the Department of Health to continue the works now hanging in the balance.
A draft budget outcome – expected later this year – will help inform on whether or not a £500,000 funding allocation can be rubberstamped for the redevelopment of Craigavon Area Hospital, according to the Health Minister.
The announcement came after Alliance MLA for Upper Bann, Eoin Tennyson asked the Minister to outline when the funding – which was allocated for the Craigavon Area Hospital redevelopment programme team, healthcare planning, and site masterplan – would be released to progress the planning phase of the development.
In reply, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt explained the Southern Health and Social Care Trust were continuing to “develop the long-term plans for the site redevelopment programme at Craigavon Area Hospital (CAH)”.
He added: “Due to the scale of the programme the project will be broken down into phases, and the Trust is currently refining the preferred phased redevelopment approach at CAH.”
However, the cost of the planned works are expected to hamper the projected plans for redevelopment… which will certainly not be progressed this financial year.
Continued the Minister: “The substantial projected cost of the programme means that affordability will be a key issue, in the context of the challenging financial environment and the scale of demand for other capital investment projects in the Health and Social Care sector.
“Within a briefing to the Health Committee in March 2025 the Department advised of the costs to progress projects in design and development, including the redevelopment of CAH.
“In light of the financial implications for future years it has not been possible to commit funding to some of the projects in the current financial year, including the redevelopment of CAH.
“The future of these projects will instead be considered as part of the development of the capital investment plan.”
Following the announcement of the outcome of the UK wide Spending Review 2025 in June, the Department of Finance commissioned a Budget exercise that will determine the capital budgets for Northern Ireland Department’s for the years 2026-27 to 2029-30.
Continuing, the Minister explained: “My ability to commit to funding capital projects, including the CAH redevelopment project, will depend on my Department’s capital allocation from the Budget process.
“The draft Budget outcome is not expected to be confirmed until later this year and will inform the development of the Department of Health capital investment plan which will set out the projects to be taken forward over the next 10 years.”
