I have consistently emphasised the need to improve facilities and services to persons with cystic fibrosis and we have made considerable progress in this regard over recent years. On the staffing side, some 48 additional staff ( 19 at St Vincent's), including consultant, nursing and allied health professionals, have been appointed.
There have also been significant improvements to the physical infrastructure at St. Vincent's Hospital as the national adult tertiary referral centre for patients with cystic fibrosis. These include the refurbishment last year of accommodation to provide eight single en-suite rooms for the exclusive use of people with cystic fibrosis.
In addition a new ward block, which is to replace existing accommodation, will include appropriate isolation facilities and accommodation for cystic fibrosis patients as required. It has been agreed that the project will proceed to tender and be operational as early as possible in 2011.
The project will proceed on the basis that payment to the contractor will be made at the end of the construction phase. This is a different way of funding the project as it involves the construction company financing the development up to the final phase of construction. The method previously envisaged for this project would have involved staged payments throughout the construction period.
I am very pleased that an innovative way has been found to deliver this project. In the current challenging environment we need to find new solutions and devise new ways of progressing important projects such as this. This is one of them. The project has always been a priority and never ceased to be so. I want to see it progressing now with urgency.
