Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 November 2023
128. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the progress of the new emergency department for Beaumont Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48928/23]
View answerThe delivery of capital projects is a dynamic process and is subject to the successful completion of the various approval stages, in line with the new lifecycle approach of the updated Public Spending Code (PSC).
The proposed new Emergency Department (ED) at Beaumont Hospital, (which includes the reconfiguration of the existing ED), is a large and complex capital proposal, which is in the early stages of design development.
The HSE has appointed a design team to progress the proposal for the new ED. This team is in the early stages of the development and it has completed a Design Report. The design team will continue through this design process including the statutory planning applications.
A Strategic Assessment Report (SAR) was submitted by the HSE to the Department of Health earlier this year. Under the March 2023 PSC update, the SAR will be subsumed into the Preliminary Business Case (PBC) and will form a single SAR/PBC document. The work undertaken to date on the SAR will be leveraged to progress the proposal in the form of a SAR/ PBC for Stage 1 of the shortened PSC process.
In line with the updated PSC, the process for the Beaumont ED proposal will be managed through the HSE capital development process rather than requiring direct submission to the Department or Government for consent.
The final decision to proceed with construction and estimate the timeline to completion, cannot be made until there is a Final Business Case, the tender process is completed, and determination that the proposal remains affordable and continues to represent value for money.
