Vol. 480 No. 6
264 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Health and Children the consideration, if any, he has given to the future of St. Ita's Hospital in Portrane, County Dublin, in view of the fact that reports in the area suggest that long-term plans may be afoot to establish a third-level institution among the buildings currently serving the hospital. [14371/97]
The Eastern Health Board is responsible for the delivery of health services, including mental health services in its functional area.
The board's current development plans in relation to the St. Ita's Hospital campus provide for the closure of old wards in the main hospital block in line with the reduction in patient numbers in the psychiatric service and mental handicap service. It is envisaged that the main hospital, which is over 100 years old, will be closed as a residential facility. Closure will be facilitated by the provision of purpose built residential facilities in the community for those patients with a mental handicap, and the transfer of long-term older patients with a mental illness from the main hospital block, to more modern accommodation on the hospital campus, as vacancies arise.
The board is at present in the process of drawing up a development control plan for the hospital campus taking into account the more modern residential and other accommodation on site and the eventual phasing out of the main hospital block. Pending the finalisation of this control plan, no decision has been made as to the long-term future of the hospital campus.
