No money for new emergency department, says minister

A new emergency department (ED) at Altnagelvin hospital remains a priority project but there is currently no funding for it, Northern Ireland's health minister has said.

Robbie Butler, who visited the Londonderry hospital on Wednesday, said a new ED would be "incredibly high on the project list if the money becomes available".

A new ED is one of two Western Health and Social Care Trust priority capital projects and has an estimated cost of around £73m.

Altnagelvin's emergency department - the oldest one operating around-the-clock in Northern Ireland - was designed to treat about 40,000 patients a year but is now dealing with up to twice that amount.

The minister said the ongoing work by the trust had helped mitigate the waiting times at the ED but that these were still "much too long".

"People living in this area will know that acutely," he said. "They're messaging me, they're emailing me, and I hear those messages.

"But the senior leadership team of the Western Trust, like me, have an ambition to see that reset and transformed.

"If the money became available, I would say the case has been well made."