§ Rev. William McCreaTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the latest option appraisal for the acute hospital for Coleraine, Ballymoney and Moyle district will be the final one; if he will accept the findings of the option appraisal and proceed immediately to build on the basis of its conclusion; whether the currently available £20 million will be available to start building and at what date; and what will be the target for completion.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe option appraisal is being undertaken by the Northern health and social services board. Provided that it is carried out to the standards required under the Government's guidelines, the appraisal should lead to a final decision on the future provision of acute hospital services in the Coleraine, Ballymoney and Moyle area. It is not possible to give a definitive timescale for implementing the preferred option. The board has been informed that funds have been reserved provisionally for a phased redevelopment of the Coleraine hospital site starting in 1993. The substantial but so far unquantified additional resources required for a completely new hospital are unlikely to be available before 1997 at the earliest.