Road upgrades should come first before moving health services, says minister

Progress on planned road upgrades "has to come first" before decisions are made on moving healthcare services, Stormont's infrastructure minister has said.

Liz Kimmins said the infrastructure to enable people in some rural areas to travel long distances "quickly" for hospital services "simply isn't there".

She was speaking after plans were announced to temporarily move inpatient maternity services from Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry to Craigavon Area Hospital due to workforce pressures.

Kimmins told a Northern Ireland Assembly committee that better connectivity was "critical" for rural communities and there was a need to "work hand-in-hand across government".

On Monday, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said it had not been able to recruit consultant obstetricians to fill vacancies at Daisy Hill.

It is preparing to temporarily move inpatient maternity services to Craigavon.

But campaigners have expressed concern it could mean another service moves away from the hospital in Newry.

Kimmins, an assembly member for the Newry and Armagh constituency, said it could lead to women travelling "very long distances to access maternity care".

"The infrastructure to enable them to do that quickly simply isn't there," she told the infrastructure committee on Wednesday.

The Sinn Féin minister referenced several road schemes including the A1 upgrade, and the Ballynahinch and Cookstown bypasses.

"In terms of decisions that are taken around moving services and all, infrastructure is key to that," she added.

"And if that's not there, and we know that road schemes and new roads etc take a long time, that has to come first before other things can happen.

"So I don't want to veer into my colleague in the Department of Health's remit but that has to work hand-in-hand across government."

Kimmins was responding to questions from Alliance Party assembly member Andrew McMurray.

He asked the minister what cross-departmental work she was conducting with the health minister to help address the "fear that rural people have" around the impact of road conditions on accessing healthcare services.

Kimmins said progress on the long-delayed A5 project and other road schemes were "critical".

"It's that connectivity, it's ensuring that people have safe access, safe roads that they can use that they're not going down wee country roads if they have longer distances to travel," she added.

"Look, we can't put bypasses and big major roads everywhere, but it's recognising how important that connectivity is particularly for people in rural areas."