Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The RCSI Hospital Group contains model 2, model 3 and model 4 hospitals with one specialist hospital, the Rotunda Maternity Hospital. The hospitals in the main serve populations in five counties – Dublin, Meath, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan. The budget for the hospitals in the group increased by 11% between 2019 and last year. There has also been very significant capital support.

At Beaumont, the €6 million breast care centre opened in last year, and this will benefit approximately 10,000 women every year. Phase 2 of the Beaumont outpatient department was completed in May 2022, at a cost of €1.5 million, benefiting approximately 140,000 patients annually. The minor injury unit at Monaghan hospital is now funded to open seven days a week, allowing more patients to be seen at weekends. Next year a new surgical hub is planned to open in Swords, under the governance of Beaumont Hospital. This is based on the Reeves centre in Tallaght University Hospital and will specifically focus on increasing the speed at which people in these counties can get access to day case procedures for which to date some people have had to wait an unacceptable time.

Every year at this time of year, we go through the process of deciding exactly what funding and additional funding will be allocated to each hospital. I issue a letter of determination to the HSE. That will issue very shortly. The HSE then comes back with a proposed national service plan. Through that national service plan, we can all look at exactly the level of investment and expected activity at a hospital-by-hospital level.

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