Finian McGrath
Question:193 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if it is appropriate to have a hospital on the same grounds as a prison. [3446/05]
View answerTuesday, 8 February 2005
Questions (183, 184, 185, 186, 187)
Enda Kenny
Question:208 Mr. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the names of the members of the project team for the Central Mental Hospital; the date on which the project team reported its findings to her Department; if she will give the recommendations made by the project team; if she will report on its recommendations in relation to the location of the Central Mental Hospital; if it recommended a greenfield site; and if it recommended that the hospital be located adjacent to a prison; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3716/05]
View answerEnda Kenny
Question:214 Mr. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if she ever proposed that the Central Mental Hospital be located adjacent to Mountjoy Prison; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3724/05]
View answerEnda Kenny
Question:215 Mr. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if she opposed the proposal to locate the Central Mental Hospital adjacent to Mountjoy Prison; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3725/05]
View answerEnda Kenny
Question:216 Mr. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if an agreement has been reached between her Department and the Office of Public Works in relation to the sale of the Central Mental Hospital; the details of the provision which has been made for investing the balance of funds accruing from the sale of the Dundrum site, after providing for a new hospital, into community mental health facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3726/05]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 193, 208 and 214 to 216, inclusive, together.
In 2003, the Minister for Health and Children established a project team, chaired by the East Coast Area Health Board, to progress the re-development of the Central Mental Hospital. This team included representatives from the Department of Health and Children, the Eastern Regional Health Authority, the East Coast Area Health Board, the clinical director, the director of nursing and the hospital manager of the Central Mental Hospital, the Irish Prison Service and a representative of the chief executive officers of the other health boards. I have asked the chairman of the project team, Mr. Martin Gallagher, now chief officer of the Health Service Executive's east coast area, to contact Deputy Kenny directly to supply the details of membership of the project team to him.
The project team's remit was to critically examine all options for the re-development of the hospital, to put together a design brief for the re-development, and to examine various financing options for the project.
There were six options considered by the group as follows: to develop a new facility on a greenfield site in the greater Dublin area; to develop a new facility on a greenfield site outside the greater Dublin area; to refurbish or upgrade the existing facility to accommodate the service; partial new build of the hospital with retention and refurbishment of some of the existing building; to transfer the service to another existing facility; or do nothing.
Several options, including the option of remaining in Dundrum, were examined under the various criteria including clinical quality-strategic fit, cost — capital and revenue, timescale, future demands, integrated services, accessibility and safety and security.
The team reported to the Department of Health and Children via the Eastern Regional Health Authority in May 2004 and recommended that the Central Mental Hospital be relocated to a new purpose-built facility in the greater Dublin area, as this was judged to be the most appropriate option for delivery of patient care.
The project team made no specific recommendation in relation to locating the Central Mental Hospital adjacent to a prison. However, the majority of admissions to the hospital come from within the prison service.
The new Central Mental Hospital will be a health facility, providing a therapeutic forensic psychiatric service to the highest international standards in a state-of-the-art building. The hospital will remain under the aegis of the Department of Health and Children and will be owned and managed by the Health Service Executive. Furthermore, I have asked my officials to examine the option of providing a separate governance structure for the hospital, by way of its own board, reflecting its importance as a national, tertiary psychiatric service. It is intended to develop the Central Mental Hospital, independently of the prison complex to replace Mountjoy Prison, by means of a separate capital development project, managed and directed by the Health Service Executive. A new central mental hospital on the 150-acre site would have its own grounds with a separate entrance, access road and address to the prison complex.
The lands of the Central Mental Hospital are the property of the Office of Public Works. My Department is preparing detailed proposals for Government in relation to the development of a new hospital and the disposal of the property at Dundrum. It is my intention that the proceeds from the sale of the existing site will go towards the provision of the new hospital in the first instance, with the balance of funds to be invested in health facilities, in particular community mental health facilities.