THE City Hospital has been identified as the location for a new regional Mother and Baby Unit for the North.
The Belfast Trust will now begin to prepare a business case for the proposed regional unit on the South Belfast site.
However, Department of Health Permanent Secretary Peter May said that due to a "very challenging financial situation" timescales for delivery of the unit are "dependent on being able to identify the funding required to build and run the new facility.”
Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw says the implementation of the new facility is "uncertain" due to lack of clarity around budgets.
"It is welcome that the City Hospital has been identified as the location for a proposed regional Mother and Baby Unit, but here yet again we face uncertainty around implementation because of the lack of clarity around budgets.
"So although there is welcome news announced today applying to the whole of Northern Ireland, it remains the case that we are proceeding too slowly to reform services because the budget is inadequate and we cannot properly scrutinise how what money we do have is being allocated, due to continued political impasse at Stormont."
Sinn Féin MLA Órlaithi Flynn has said an Executive must be restored to deliver the first Mother and Baby Unit on this island.
“Lack of resources in maternity and mental health services has led to some heartbreaking incidents involving mothers and their children," she said.
“I welcome the Department of Health’s announcement that Belfast City Hospital has been identified as the site for a new Mother and Baby Unit.
“We must have a specialist perinatal mental health service that is fit for purpose, free to act in the best interests of women’s health and available to all women on our island.
“Despite this, one party’s boycott of the Executive means that we do not currently have the power to secure funding for the building of this specialised and much-needed unit. This would go a long way in helping women who are struggling with their mental health post-pregnancy.
“Mothers cannot wait. Families cannot wait. We need an end to one party’s boycott of the political institutions and all parties working together to prioritise women’s health and deliver the island’s first mother and baby unit."
