Vol. 560 No. 1
624 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of beds, per hospital department, currently available at the Midland Regional Hospital; the proposed bed increases in phase 2B; and when these additional beds are likely to come on stream. [1120/03]
Responsibility for the provision of services at the Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar rests with the Midland Health Board. My Department has, therefore, asked the chief executive officer of the board to investigate the position in relation to the matter raised by the Deputy and to reply to him directly.
625 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Health and Children if funding for the proposed phase 2B of the Midland Regional Hospital has been included in the expenditure for the National Development Plan, 2002-06; and the amount of money designated for these works. [1121/03]
723 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Health and Children the position in relation to phase 2B of the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar; when construction will commence for this important project; the amount of money which has been set aside in 2003 to allow this project to commence; the timescale envisaged for the completion of this expansion of the accommodation requirements of the hospital together with other ancillary facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1869/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 625 and 723 together.
Approval to the appointment of a design team for the preparation of a development control plan for the whole hospital development was granted in August 2001.
As the approval increased the scope of the phase 2B project to include indicative accommodation proposed in the design brief, for construction in phases subsequent to 2B, the board's project team was requested to review immediately the design brief to reflect procurement of all phases under a single building contract. The revised design brief was recently submitted to the Department for approval and it is currently being examined.
Funding of €600,000 has been approved to progress the preparation of the development control plan (DCP) which the Midland Health Board has advised is programmed for completion in May 2003. The Midland Health Board also advised that a commencement date for construction is dependent on design solutions proposed by the design team, particularly the staging of the contract works, and that the preparation of a time and cost programme for the completion of the project will be feasible on completion of the DCP.
When I announced the project, the total anticipated cost was in excess of €57 million at mid-2001 prices.
