Vol. 489 No. 5
114 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children his views, in the context of the Naas Hospital development plan, on the extent to which the thirty five beds proposed to be dedicated to patients who will have surgery at Tallaght Hospital will be of benefit in alleviating overcrowding at Naas Hospital; if state-of-the-art surgical facilities are likely to be provided at Naas Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8524/98]
Phase II of the development at Naas General Hospital will result in the provision of additional medical and surgical beds at Naas General Hospital. When the development is complete, the in-patient bed complement will be 164 beds. In addition, the hospital will have a day service facility of 25 beds and a day hospital for the elderly with ten places.
Naas General Hospital provides a general acute medical, surgical and psychiatric service for its catchment area. Patients who require more specialised treatment are transferred to the appropriate hospital facility and back to Naas Hospital when they have completed their specialised phase of treatment. The provision of additional beds at the hospital will ensure the availability of complementary facilities to medical and surgical patients from the Naas area who will have completed specialised treatment in Tallaght Hospital and will require a further period of recovery in a hospital setting. This will also help to relieve the overall pressure on acute hospital bed provision in the area.
