Vol. 419 No. 6
108 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Health if he will give details of the hospitals and health centres he visited during his recent visit to Waterford city and Dungarvan in County Waterford; and if he intends to take any new initiatives in the area as a result of his observations from the visit.
I visited the following three sites:
1. Ardkeen, where construction of the new Waterford Regional Hospital is now reaching an advanced stage.
2. Health Centres, Waterford (Newgate Street and The Mall) The Community Care services in Waterford are at present administered from 5 different locations. The South Eastern Health Board states that with the exception of one of these offices, they are not satisfactory. It is a priority of the South Eastern Health Board to house these services at a new location on the Cork Road in Waterford. I would be glad to consider their request in the context of the capital funds available to me and the competing needs to be met.
3. St.Joseph's Hospital, Dungarvan I fully appreciate the South Eastern Health Board's anxiety to develop a new 27 bed unit as a matter of urgency. I cannot say when the necessary funding, slightly over £1 million, will be provided but would point out that, for the past three years, the South Eastern Health Board have been receiving a substantial proportion of the entire capital budget for major general hospital developments in Ardkeen, Wexford and Kilkenny.
