Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Gallagher, Pearse Doherty and McConalogue for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people, Deputy Jim Daly. Unfortunately, the Minister of State is unable to be here because he is attending an important meeting with senior officials about scheduled and unscheduled care and delayed discharges. He has asked me to convey his apologies to the Deputies.

The HSE is responsible for the delivery of health and personal social services, including those at facilities such as St. Joseph's Community Hospital in Stranorlar, Ramelton Community Hospital and Lifford Community Hospital. Community hospitals are an essential part of our national infrastructure and we are determined to maintain our public stock. The standard of care delivered to residents in these units is generally very high but we do recognise that many public units are housed in buildings that are less than ideal in the modern context. However, without these units, many older people would not have access to the care they need. On that basis, we need to upgrade our public bed stock. This is the aim behind the five-year capital investment programme for community and nursing units announced in 2016.

This provides the framework to replace, upgrade and refurbish these care facilities, as appropriate. Significant work was undertaken to determine the most optimum scheduling of projects within the phased provision of funding to achieve compliance and registration with the Health Information and Quality Authority.

At a meeting on 7 November 2018 with public representatives and local delegations, the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, advised that the policy position to replace St. Joseph's, Stranorlar, and Ramelton community nursing unit had been revised. The HSE's social care directorate and its national capital and property steering group accepted recommendations from HSE CHO1 to retain and upgrade both facilities, in the context of future capacity requirements. This revises the original decision to replace the existing long-stay residential beds on both sites. It further revises the scale of the proposed new unit at Letterkenny from the original 130 beds to 110 beds. Importantly, the decision to revise the proposals was informed not just by the technical and feasibility studies on the physical infrastructure at these two sites but also a broader analysis of population projections and national planning norms carried out by the HSE.

The redevelopment of the Lifford unit on the existing site is not deemed viable. The need for additional beds and the potential to develop a new facility on a greenfield site will be reviewed further post-2021, when new census data are available and the capital programme has been advanced. The existing unit at Lifford will continue to operate in the intervening period. As the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, advised at the November meeting, he welcomes the community continuing to engage with the HSE at local level, as appropriate, regarding further ideas and proposals for community-based options that may be considered.

The Department and the HSE are engaged in a process to finalise the HSE's capital plan for 2019. In developing its capital plan for 2019 and future years, the HSE must consider a range of issues, including the expenditure that is contractually committed, the HSE's annual requirement for meeting risks associated with clinical equipment, ambulances and healthcare infrastructure and the total capital Exchequer funding required for major capital projects. The HSE's capital plan will determine the projects that can progress in 2019 and beyond and this plan is being finalised. Once the HSE has finalised its capital plan for 2019, it will then be submitted to the Minister for consideration.

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