Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 June 2023
1104. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if he will confirm the progress that has been made to date in developing the project of a new paediatric department in Cork University Hospital; the work that will be undertaken in relation to this project in the remainder of 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27062/23]
View answerThe Paediatric Department in Cork University Hospital (CUH) provides a comprehensive service for children from general paediatric care up to and including High Dependency Unit requirements. A multi-phase programme of capital investment is underway in CUH to modernise paediatric facilities there.
Phase 1 of the new Paediatric Department at CUH has been delivered and operational since 2017, providing dedicated paediatric outpatient accommodation, including dedicated facilities for paediatric cystic fibrosis outpatients.
Phase 2 will focus on Paediatric in-patient accommodation ensuring children are provided with much needed appropriate, compliant accommodation. It is anticipated that this phase of the project will deliver 58 beds and 24 cots, (including 6 Paediatric High Dependency beds/cots), specialist Haematology/Oncology beds, palliative care suites, CAMHS beds and rooms for children with disabilities, and all associated accommodation.
Phase 3 will focus on dedicated paediatric theatres and all associated accommodation.
In line with the requirements of the Public Spending Code (PSC), Strategic Assessment Reports (SAR) for Phases 2 and 3 of CUH paediatric developments have been undertaken and are now complete.
In parallel to the development of the SAR, planning permission was sought and this was granted by Cork County Council in August 2022.
Owing to site constraints such as adjacent buildings and necessary helicopter flight paths to support CUH Group Major Trauma, and the ongoing work to identify and develop adult facilities, the phasing and design of the paediatric proposals are continuing to be re-appraised so that an optimum campus wide solution can be found.
Under the March 2023 Public Spending Code (PSC) update, the SARs will be subsumed into the Preliminary Business Case (PBC) and will form a single SAR/PBC document. The work undertaken to date on the SARs will be leveraged to progress the proposal in the form of a SAR/ PBC for Stage 1 of the shortened PSC process.
The update to the PSC also increased the thresholds for the classification of major projects at which full PSC scrutiny is required and reduced the number of steps for proposals to travel through before approval to proceed. These PSC updates have the potential to speed up the delivery of capital projects including the proposal for CUH.
The total project cost to deliver the completed new Paediatric Department in Cork, as currently envisaged, is currently estimated as being in excess of €100m. In line with the updated PSC, this process for the CUH paediatric department proposal will now be managed through the HSE capital development process rather than requiring direct submission to the Department or Government for consent.
Capital funding continues to be made available to support CUH paediatric projects as they progress through the various design and approval stages.
As with any projects of this scale, the final decision to proceed and therefore to estimate the timeline and cost cannot be made until the completion of the Final Business Case, completion of the tender process, and determination that the proposal remains affordable and continues to represent value for money.
