Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020
764. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if consideration will be given to the development of a new elective hospital in Cork by way of the HSE providing a suitable site and that the building will be by way of design, build and finance by the construction company with buy back by the HSE over a 25 year time period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25084/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs you will recall, the National Development Plan stated that, “New dedicated ambulatory elective only hospital facilities will be introduced in Dublin Galway and Cork. These facilities will provide high volume, low complexity procedures on a day and outpatient basis, together with a range of ambulatory diagnostic services. The high volume of demand for such services in these major urban centres is sufficient to justify the construction of dedicated ambulatory centres.”
The elective hospitals oversight group has completed a Catchment Area Analysis within Dublin, Cork and Galway, within a national capacity context, but also within the catchments defined by the proposed Regional Health Areas, aimed at selected scopes of service.
The Elective Hospitals Oversight Group is currently developing a high-level facilities spatial brief and order of magnitude costs which details the elective clustering of appropriate activities for each of the three facilities in Dublin, Cork and Galway. This will also include an output and facility specification, based on efficient and effective service delivery. This is due to be complete in the Autumn of 2020.
This work will consider a long list of options, and the funding model for developing these facilities. Using a common appraisal methodology, this long list will be reduced to a shorter list of preferred options. As per the Public Spending Code guidelines, these options will then be required to undergo full detailed planning, costing and appraisal before being issued in a preliminary business case (PBC) for consideration by Government.
