Lagan Valley Hospital

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The Lagan Valley Hospital is a hospital in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It provides services to an estimated 125,000 people from Greater Lisburn, the Lisburn City Council area and other parts of South East Ulster.HistoryThe hospital can trace its roots back to a workhouse on the same Hillsborough Road site that opened during the famine. The workhouse which was then known as the Lisburn Poor House, became the Lisburn and Hillsborough District Hospital in 1922. After a major extension, the hospital was renamed Lagan Valley Hospital in 1947. The hospital has seen great enlargement in years since, hastened by the closure of the geriatric units at Killowen and Lissue. At the turn of the millennium, the hospital was granted a new Accident and Emergency wing.TodayIn February 2008, the trust announced that maternity services were to cease at the hospital in 2009. The decision sparked major controversy and heralded the 'Save our Services' campaign, which was backed by local politicians and local newspaper, the Ulster Star. The move was part of measures to cut costs, however it has been claimed that the closure will put other hospitals in the region into 'meltdown'. A senior member of maternity liaison committee stated that it would have a 'detrimental impact', as hospitals in Belfast and Craigavon were already 'bursting'. Such claims were rejected by Health minister Michael McGimpsey, who deemed them 'unhelpful'. The closure came only two years after the decision to strip the hospital of acute services.