Kieran McCarthy MLA said: “This is excellent news that these hospitals will get this extra investment. Our hospitals are facing major pressures and I hope that this extra money will go some way towards relieving this strain.
“There is however much more that needs to be done to solve all the issues that our health service is currently facing. We need to do more work in terms of early intervention and prevention to stop problems from emerging or to seek to intervene at an early stage to produce savings through avoiding the need to spend greater levels of resources after problems fully develop.
“Our social care system is facing serious problems where in some circumstances only the most critical cases are being funded which means that those with less serious issues will have to be hospitalised further down the line. We need to implement radical changes to our health service and I hope that this investment will provide the start.
“Just like the investment announced today for the A2, A5 and A8, I also hope that these new hospital projects will create a large amount of construction jobs and help a sector that has been struggling in recent years.”
ENDS