The hospital was commissioned to create extra healthcare capacity in the Antrim area.[1] It was built at a cost of £40 million[2] and was opened by the Prince of Wales in July 1994.[3] In February 2003 it was designated as one of the nine acute hospitals in the acute hospital network of Northern Ireland on which healthcare would be focused under the government health policy 'Developing Better Services'.[4] An extension to the emergency department and an extra 24 bed ward were completed in June 2013.[5][6]
