Vol. 483 No. 6
268 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has provided funding in the 1998 departmental Capital Funding Programme for urgent and necessary work to be carried out at St. Ita's Psychiatric Hospital, Portrane, County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20955/97]
A total of £500,000 was spent on upgrading facilities in St. Ita's Hospital in 1994 and 1995. In 1996 my Department provided a further £250,000, while the Eastern Health Board provided £60,000 from its own resources which enabled further substantial upgrading to be carried out in all patient care areas throughout the hospital.
The board's current development plan in relation to the St. Ita's Hospital campus provides for the closure of old wards in the main hospital block in line with a reduction in patient numbers in the psychiatric service and mental handicap service of St. Ita's. The development plan envisages the main hospital closing as a residential facility. This will be facilitated by the provision of purpose-built residential facilities in the community and on the hospital campus for residents with a mental handicap, and the transfer of long-term older psychiatric patients from the main hospital block to more modern accommodation on the hospital campus as vacancies arise.
In March 1997, the board adopted a development plan — St. Ita's Mental Handicap Service Development Programme 1997/1998 — which provides for the replacement of the older facilities in the hospital by the commissioning of four community residences and two village complexes providing a total of 85 places in the community. Implementation of the plan is under way with capital funding of £650,000 and revenue funding of £625,000 being made available this year by my Department.
