The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust approved payments of around £17.4 million to a contractor for extensions of time on the new Maternity Hospital in Belfast. Sixteen requests for extensions totalled 257.86 weeks sought by the contractor, with 183.7 weeks granted.

Each request came from the contractor. Reasons included compliance with building control, works on adjacent Royal Victoria Hospital site areas like underground ducts and flues, Covid-19 site closures, amendments to internal layouts, ventilation, bedhead arrangements, medical gas installations, ducting, cabling, approvals for nurse call and emergency lighting systems, delays in approved person comments on medical gases, medical gas inspection and commissioning delays, and domestic water systems remediation.

Diane Dodds, DUP Health Spokesperson and Upper Bann Assembly Member, questioned the Minister of Health on these extensions. She highlighted the need for prudence in government contracts with public money.

Dodds noted the maternity hospital costs doubled from the original agreement. She stated the building, handed over two years ago, remains unfit for use without potable water despite the extra payments.

For the new Children’s Hospital in Belfast, the Trust paid the contractor £1,401,187.34 up to 10 January 2026 for adjustments and variations. These covered piling changes, retaining walls, quantities remeasurement, human resources, asbestos clearance, temporary services, NIE supply, and drainage amendments.

The Trust deemed further details on Children’s Hospital payments commercially sensitive after a public interest test.