Pipes at new maternity hospital will cost £50k to fix

Medical gas pipes at Belfast's new maternity hospital will cost £50,000 to fix, the Health Minister has said.

The hospital, at the Royal Victoria site, has faced significant delays.

It is already almost 10 years behind schedule.

In recent months it is also been revealed that a high presence of a bacteria in the building's water system could cause more delays.

In a statement to the Assembly Mike Nesbitt said: "I have again met the Trust and it has assured me the issue with the medical gas pipework will be remedied as swiftly as possible."

"I have been advised the cost to resolve the issue will be approximately £50,000."

The minister added that although the defect had been identified for some time, the Belfast Trust and Departmental Officials had only recently received a report into the options for correcting the problem.

He also said the Trust "will work to ensure that the issue is fixed as quickly as possible and that it will not add any further to the delays".

An Audit Office report, published in February, said work on the new maternity building commenced in November 2017.

The report said phase one was on track for completion in August 2020, phase two was expected to be completed in March 2021 and phase three in September 2021.

The Department of Health told auditors that Pseudomonas bacteria was detected in the water system during the commissioning process for Phase One.

Responding to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, the trust said the pseudomonas had been detected in several of its buildings.

In November the health minister Mike Nesbitt revealed that there was a new issue with medical gas pipework.

He told the Assembly at the time it was "another totally shocking revelation".