Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking what is a very important Topical Issue matter relating to the provision of health services in County Kildare and west Wicklow, as well as the infrastructure we have for those health services. As the Minister of State is aware, Naas General Hospital is an acute hospital with 243 beds, providing inpatient, general medical, surgical and acute psychiatric services, as well as a 24-hour emergency service to its immediate catchment population of Kildare and Wicklow. That is close to 250,000 people. Naas General Hospital works closely with Tallaght hospital and shares many consultant posts. Naas General Hospital is part of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, as the Minister of State knows, and Trinity College Dublin is the academic partner.

The hospital's current endoscopic unit is within one building that has been deemed not fit for purpose following a joint advisory group inspection in 2009. It comprises one endoscopy room in a prefabricated structure and the Minister, Deputy Harris, visited it last November and is very aware it is not fit for purpose. Endoscopy and day ward development for the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group is a key enabler for group-wide development and cross-site work, particularly with regard to Naas and Tallaght. Naas General Hospital received planning permission in January 2015 for the development of the new endoscopy and day ward unit, which would increase day ward capacity from 11 to 25 day beds. I will touch later on some of the demographics of County Kildare and west Wicklow, with their rising populations, and the staff and management in Naas are doing an amazing job despite increasing attendance at the hospital. For example, accident and emergency attendance has increased more than 4% and inpatient attendance has increased by more than 2%. There are capacity issues in Naas due to the increased volumes and staff are doing a remarkable job. Staff morale has been affected by the fact that a previous Government ten years ago promised this endoscopy unit. There was a belief it was coming but it never materialised.

As we head into review of the capital plan, this is a crucial development for health services in Kildare. There is a bigger benefit. The Minister, Deputy Harris, had meetings at the end of last year and in Leinster House this year with the consultants from the endoscopy unit in Naas and representatives of the hospital group. The strongest case did not come from Naas but from Dr. Susan O'Reilly, and those from St. James's and Tallaght hospitals, who will see a major benefit in Naas developing its endoscopy unit. There will be a benefit for Kildare residents who will not have to travel and there will also be a reduction in waiting lists, and St. James's Hospital has very significant urology waiting lists. The capacity element and these benefits mean there is a really strong business case for this to happen.

Enabling works for the project have been carried out already, which primarily consist of an upgrade to the hospital power supply system. They were undertaken between 2014 and 2016 at a cost of €1.5. The project is very much shovel-ready and unlike other projects in the hospital grouping, if we can secure State funding for it, we can go straight away. It has gone through all the approval processes with the Health Service Executive and design and planning stages are complete. It is ready to go. However, the capital cash flow required to fund the project is awaited and not yet allocated.

The cost of the proposed new build is €11 million spread over three years and, depending on start date and phasing options, the cost may be spread, with approximately €2 million in year one, €5 million in year two and €4 million in year three, so all the €11 million would not be needed up-front. As a key priority, the project would increase our ability and capacity manage our increasing elective workload across a range of services for Kildare and west Wicklow in the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group in specialist areas such as ear, nose and throat treatment; urology; neuroology and gastroenterology. Naas and Tallaght hospitals have recently appointed consultants in all these areas and these are excellent practitioners, working under difficult conditions. They deserve better and increased capacity so we can tackle waiting lists and ensure Kildare people do not have to travel for such services or wait any longer than they do.

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