Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The south Tipperary hospital agreement, which was signed in January 1996, paved the way for development of hospital services in the region and the bringing together of surgery and medicine on a single site. The major capital development programme, to which the Deputy referred, to provide the infrastructure to facilitate the transfer of surgical services from Our Lady's Hospital, Cashel, to St. Joseph's Hospital, Clonmel, is now complete. In October of last year, St. Joseph's Hospital celebrated the 150th anniversary of its foundation and these celebrations coincided with the official opening of a number of new facilities at the hospital, including a coronary care step down unit, medical assessment unit, cardiac rehabilitation unit, a new 35-bed medical ward, a CT department and a library and education centre.

The next phase of the development involves the provision of a new accident and emergency department, ward accommodation, operating theatres, intensive care unit, day care unit, central sterile supplies department, physical medicine department and education and consulting rooms.

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