Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The planning stage of phase two of the Cashel development has been completed. Refurbishment of the main hospital building is required to accommodate the following services: a 20-bed GP assessment rehabilitation unit, a five-bed palliative care unit, a 15-bed convalescent unit, a 25-bed specialist geriatric rehabilitation unit, a day hospital for older people, and the outpatients department. The development of phase two is contingent on the transfer of surgical services to Clonmel, the subject the Deputy has raised, and the provision of capital funding for the project.

In recent years a major capital development programme to provide the infrastructure to facilitate the transfer from Cashel to Clonmel has been undertaken to bring surgical and acute medical services together on a single site. The integration of acute services on one site will greatly enhance the services available to patients in the region. The amount invested in this is €30 million which is for the new facilities at South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel. There are various elements to the newly constructed facilities and they have been outlined to the Deputy in previous replies.

In September 2004, the Department of Health and Children, in the context of the commissioning of new units in acute hospitals throughout the country, gave approval to the South Eastern Health Board to commission the new facilities in Clonmel. In 2005, ongoing revenue funding of €3.8 million is available to the HSE's south-eastern area to open the new facilities at South Tipperary General Hospital.

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