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

I thank Deputy Martin Kenny for raising this important issue. The Government's core stated objective is to promote care in the community so that people can continue to live with confidence, security and dignity in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. That is clearly what older people and everybody in this House wants. We also have patients who are in genuine need of residential care, either on a long-stay or short-stay basis, and their safety and wellbeing is of paramount concern. The HSE is responsible for the delivery of health and personal social services, including those at facilities such as St. John's which is a 132-bed community hospital on the outskirts of Sligo town. Services provided include rehabilitation, convalescence assessment and long-term residential care. The hospital is registered with the Health Information and Quality Authority to provide 95 beds.

As the Deputy is aware, community hospitals like St. John's are an essential part of our national infrastructure and we are determined to maintain our public stock. While the standard of care delivered to residents in these units is generally very high, we recognise that many public units are housed in buildings that are less than ideal in a modern context. Without these units, however, many older people would not have access to the care they need. On that basis we need to upgrade our public bed stock and this is the aim of the five-year capital investment programme for community nursing units which was announced in 2016. The programme provides the framework to replace, upgrade or refurbish these care facilities, as appropriate. Significant work has been undertaken to determine the optimum scheduling of projects within the phased provision of funding to achieve compliance and registration with the Health Information and Quality Authority. This programme includes St. John's hospital.

The Alzheimer's unit referred to by the Deputy is located within the grounds of St. John's hospital. Historically, the unit admitted people who suffered with dementia related illness, mental health difficulties and acquired brain injuries. The unit was registered with the Mental Health Commission under the Mental Health Act 2001. This registration has ceased and the unit has only recently being vacated. This was in line with conditions set by the commission. Residents were facilitated in a number of different facilities, including older person services and nursing homes. The unit is now under the governance of the social care division's older persons' services. The plan for the immediate use of St John's is to facilitate the capital works in the long-term care area of the hospital which will require a number of residents to transfer from their existing wards to allow for the essential upgrade works to be completed. Once these works are completed, it is proposed that a designated dementia service will be developed in the existing Alzheimer's unit.

The Deputy will appreciate that all healthcare infrastructure developments require a lead-in time to complete the various stages. These stages include appraisal, project brief, design feasibility, a review of costing estimates and finalisation of financing. The project will proceed under the capital investment programme, which is part of Project Ireland 2040. The HSE's capital plan for 2019 is currently being finalised and will be submitted to the Minister for Health for consideration and approval. This will propose the projects that can progress in 2019 and beyond, having regard to the total available capital funding. All health capital projects, currently at various stages of development, are considered as part of this process.

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