asked the Minister for Health if an opening date has yet been set for the new Beaumont Hospital in Dublin 9; if a full range of medical services will be available at the hospital; the financial provision which has been allocated for the hospital for the current year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
3.
The precise date on which Beaumont Hospital will open is determined by the supply and installation of essential equipment. The Beaumont Hospital board have been asked to proceed with all speed in commissioning the hospital and with the co-operation of all the interests concerned, including the staff of the transferring hospitals, it is intended to have the hospital open by the end of the year.
It is intended that the range of services currently provided at St. Laurence's and Jervis Street Hospitals will be available at Beaumont from the opening date. The opening of the psychiatric unit to be run in association with the Eastern Health Board is still under discussion with that board. A full casualty and accident emergency service will be provided from the opening date.
The precise sum of money available to Beaumont in 1987 will depend on the date on which the hospital opens as services at the two transferring hospitals will be maintained up to that date. The budget available for Beaumont will be made up from the proportion of the budgets of the transferring hospitals remaining unspent at the opening date plus an allocation of £2.6 million to Beaumont itself.
Can the Minister advise whether he has sought, in consultation with the Minister for Finance, clearance for the recruitment of sufficient personnel to staff fully the new hospital when it opens before the end of this year?
I met with the chairman of the boards of the three hospitals involved. We have asked the boards to prepare a submission on what extra staff, if any, will be necessary. The Minister for Finance and I will then consider that. It is appreciated that the staff of Jervis Street and St. Laurence's Hospitals will be the main staff in the hospital at Beaumont.
The Minister has indicated that the major hold-up is the installation of equipment. Can he assure us that he has, in turn, been assured by the three hospital boards to which he has referred that they are in a position to secure the easy transfer of their services, staff and outstanding equipment to Beaumont Hospital before the end of this year and that the hospital will definitely open?
I met the chairman of the three hospitals concerned. We are quite satisfied that it will be possible to open Beaumont Hospital. It certainly will not be a matter of finance.
How does the Minister propose to open the hospital when about 140 fewer staff will currently be employed in both the Richmond and Jervis Street hospitals?
Beaumont Hospital will be replacing Jervis Street and St. Laurence's hospitals. The combined staff of those two hospitals will be moving to Beaumont. I am satisfied that Beaumont Hospital will open and will provide the range of services that is being provided at present.
A final question, if I may. Clearly, as against what we have been constantly led to believe up to this — and I must say I am pleased to hear it is now only a problem of equipment— will the Minister advise us that he has resolved whatever outstanding difficulties there were with private consultants with regard to the opening of Beaumont Hospital?
The difficulties with the consultants were resolved when I took office.
I am glad to hear that admitted.
It is nice to be able to give my predecessor a little credit now and again. There is no problem with consultants.
I shall not take that as a precedent.
Will the Minister please clarify in a little more detail the position arising out of this meeting with the chairman of the board of each of the hospitals involved? Can he say categorically there is no remaining staffing problem to be dealt with and that the only remaining problem is one of equipment? Can he repeat his welcome assurance that this facility will be made available by the end of the year to the people in North Dublin, who are in a totally unsatisfactory condition with regard to the two other hospitals?
As I said, following the meeting with the chairman of the board of the three hospitals, the three hospitals will submit to the Department proposals with regard to any necessary new staffing that will be required by Beaumont Hospital, and we will consider them then.