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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 20 Jun 1951

Vol. 126 No. 2

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Waterford Hospital.

asked the Minister for Health whether he will accept the recommendation of the Waterford Board of Public Assistance that a new general hospital should be built in Waterford City instead of the proposed alterations to the old hospital which exists there at present.

In July, 1948, when the short - term programme for hospital building was drawn up, it was conveyed to the Waterford Board of Public Assistance that in view of the need for making rapid progress with a limited programme of hospital building, including only works of the greatest urgency, the provision of a new general hospital for Waterford, although desirable, would have to be deferred. The local authority were, however, informed that a grant of two-thirds of the cost of improving the present county hospital would be made available from the Hospitals' Trust Fund and the view was expressed to them that when the improvements had been carried out it should be possible to bring the service available to patients in the hospital up to a standard approaching that which would be provided in the new building.

At a conference on the 22nd February last with representatives of the Waterford Board of Public Assistance this question was again discussed and I understand that the local representatives then accepted the position that as a new hospital providing for the numbers at present accommodated in the county hospital could not be realised in the immediate future there was no alternative to proceeding on the basis of rehabilitating the existing structures with a view to bringing the hospital up to a reasonable standard. In view of the position as to commitments on the Hospitals' Trust Fund and the large volume of work yet to be undertaken as part of the short-term programme of urgent works already settled, I feel that there is no alternative to proceeding by way of improvement rather than of replacement.

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