asked the Minister for Health the present position in the Eye and Ear Hospital, Adelaide Road, Dublin 2, indicating the number of patients that it is proposed to treat in 1988 with reference to the numbers treated in 1987; the number of staff who are permanently employed; the level of current expenditure grant which the hospital will receive from his Department in 1988; the plans and proposals for the maintenance of the hospital as an independent hospital; the exact timetable for the completion of the independent programme by this hospital and the transfer of all of its functions to various general hospitals in the Dublin area and its subsequent closure; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers - Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital.
214.
Approximately 7,000 patients were treated at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in 1987. It is not possible to estimate the number of patients which will be treated at the hospital in 1988.
There were 218 permanent staff employed by the hospital on 30 September 1987. My Department have made a revenue allocation of £3.5 million to the hospital in 1988.
It is the Department's policy that specialised services such as ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat surgery should be located on a general hospital campus. It is proposed to transfer opthalmology to St. Vincent's Hospital and to the Midland Health Board. The transfers will be effected as soon as possible.