NI diver chamber remains closed

The man was taken to Noble's Hospital

Northern Ireland's only NHS recompression chamber has still not opened despite being installed at the end of last year.

The new facility at Craigavon Area Hospital has been unused because of issues such as staff rotas.

Emergency staff had to fly a diver who got into difficulty off the County Down coast to hospital in the Isle of Man as the machine has not been commissioned.

The diver, aged in his 50s, is being treated in a hyperbaric chamber.

It provides recompression treatment for decompression illness.

The Bangor Coastguard said he was at a depth of 16m at Guns Island off Ballyhornan, County Down, when he had to surface quickly.

He was flown to Noble's Hospital after the incident on Thursday night.

Sammy Gordon, from the Portaferry lifeboat which answered the emergency call, said the man was confused and feeling ill.

"He had been unconscious and was feeling rather poorly," he said.

The new recompression chamber at Craigavon was brought into the hospital last year, replacing one which had been in use since the 1970s.

The health trust said staff had been trained on the new machine, but cannot use it until operational procedures such as rotas are worked out.

It hopes the chamber will be available at the end of August.