Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 April 2004
7 Dr. Twomey asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on the number of projects which received funding since May 2002 and the number of projects expected to receive funding for specific projects in the acute hospital sector (details supplied). [10700/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI understand that my Department has clarified the Deputy's specific requirements with regard to the question raised. Following this clarification, the Deputy requires information only in respect of those projects in excess of €10 million — this cuts out a lot — which had contractual commitments in May 2002 or which have received funding since that date.
The Deputy will be aware that the national development plan, which commenced in 2000, sought to provide investment in the acute and non-acute hospital sector on an equal basis over the life of the plan. It is my intention that this policy be carried forward into the new five year capital investment framework for 2004 to 2008 being established by my Department.
In response to the request for the information required by the Deputy, I can confirm that the number of separate projects in the acute hospital sector being funded since May 2002 is 22 in 16 different major hospitals and at an estimated total cost of €1.667 billion. As the Deputy will appreciate, this funding is being spread over the life of these major projects and, in most cases, it will be over a period of several years. The projects include: St. Vincent's University Hospital — this will cost about €212 million; Mater and Children's Hospital Development — this will ultimately cost approximately €431 million; Naas General Hospital — this will cost up to €119 million; James Connolly Memorial Hospital; Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin — this project involves operating theatres and further developments and will cost up to €30 million; St. James's Hospital — €40 million; Beaumont Hospital; Coombe Women's Hospital; Incorporated Orthopaedic Hospital, Clontarf; Tullamore General Hospital — €141 million; Portlaoise General Hospital — €32 million; Longford-Westmeath General Hospital — €74 million; St. Joseph's Hospital, Clonmel — maternity unit; Cork University Hospital — this project includes radiotherapy-oncology, accident and cardiac-renal units; University College Hospital Galway; and Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar.
In light of our having discussed the Hanly report, the purpose of my questions is to second-guess what the Department is planning. This question ties in with Question No. 42 which asks whether there is radical reorganisation of acute hospital services inside and outside the Dublin region, whether the Minister is planning to transfer the tertiary services to one hospital, whether he plans to transform one hospital in the Dublin region into a major acute emergency service hospital doing emergency work only, and if there are plans to designate one or more of the five major Dublin hospitals as a general hospital which will only do major elective work in the Dublin region. Are there such plans for the south east where I am involved? Will Waterford Regional Hospital remain the regional centre? Is Kilkenny General Hospital, which would seem to be the more logical choice, being considered?
Patients in the south east are losing out in some respects regarding the development of their acute hospital services. There is an increased level of activity in the south eastern hospitals but no progress is being made in reforming the services. Nobody seems to know the direction in which we are going. My obtaining figures from the Minister is to try ascertain what the Department of Health and Children thinks about acute hospital services.
The Minister is saying the plan is for the next five years. Will he expand further on his reply in response to my point about the Dublin hospitals and those in the south east? Is something happening or something we should know? I know the Hanly report ties into this issue to a large extent.
There is no joint conspiracy, if that is what the Deputy is indicating.
I am not saying there is a conspiracy.
It is fair to say that, in the decades prior to 2000 when the national development plan was announced, the health care system did not receive the capital investment it required. Therefore, many of the hospitals had no serious investment for up to 20 or 30 years. In this respect, I include hospitals such as St. Vincent's Hospital, the Mater, and the Cork and Galway hospitals. The first task was to prioritise between acute and non-acute categories. We were endeavouring to obtain a 50:50 split in the national development plan so that the non-acute category would cover day care centres, health care, primary care, community care and continuing care. As the design teams worked on these major projects and dug deeper, the costs increased in some instances. However, we had to modernise the hospitals. This was agreed to by all owing to the condition of some of the hospitals prior to the developments in question. Some of them had no serious investment.
A range of projects are taking place that cost less than €10 million. There has been significant investment in Waterford Regional Hospital, as the Deputy knows, and in Kilkenny hospital. I was in Kilkenny recently and noted that the hospital has up to ten or 11 new facilities. Significant investment has been made in Wexford General Hospital even prior to the plan, and design teams have been appointed in respect of projects at that hospital. Many of the initiatives predated the Hanly report.
The projects in the major teaching hospitals are of a significant level given the scale of those hospitals in any event. Galway will serve the entire western seaboard for tertiary items, such as radiotherapy and heart surgery, which means people from the west will no longer have to go to Dublin for heart surgery and radiotherapy in the future and for a range of other services such as renal services, some areas of orthopaedics and other specialities. As a result of the investment in Galway, we will now be able to provide services in the regions.
I again remind the House that supplementary questions and answers are limited to one minute. If Members abided by that, we could accommodate more Members on supplementary questions.
