The building contractor responsible for a major new hospital facility in Co Armagh has been celebrating.

Farrans Healthcare and the architect for the huge project, Milligan Reside Larkin, in Newry - in association with P O'Hagan Architects - have this week marked the end of their work with the official opening of the new £9.4million hospital unit in Craigavon.

The companies celebrated as the NI Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, opened the new multi-million pound trauma and orthopaedic facility at Craigavon Area Hospital.

As previously reported, the £9.4million Trauma and Orthopaedics Unit is the final phase of a £15m investment project, designed to improve waiting times for fractures and orthopaedic services.

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The new unit provides two new laminar flow theatre suites - one for orthopaedics and one for trauma - a seven-bedded recovery area and a 15-bedded ward, which includes seven single en-suite rooms.

Speaking at the opening of the new unit, the Minister said: "This is a superb new facility which will bring real benefits to patients and staff. The new unit provides top class facilities for people in this region who need trauma and orthopaedic services, and will ensure that the health service continues to provide safe, high quality services for the people of the Southern Trust area.

"It means that patients are able to have their treatment locally, rather than having to travel to Belfast," he said, noting it is yet another example of "my determination to put patients first and to ensure a first class health service is available for people in all regions across Northern Ireland".

While the Trauma and Orthopaedic Unit cost £9.4m, an additional £5.8m was invested for infrastructure improvements at the Craigavon Area Hospital.

Laminar flow ventilation is used in modern orthopaedic operating theatres to reduce the number of infective organisms present in the air, which may lead to post-operative infection of the wound.

(BMcC/GK)