Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. The annual capital plan sets out the planned health infrastructure investment within a given year throughout the country. Capital investment has a critical role to play in enabling and enhancing service provision and in driving the reforms set out in Sláintecare. A number of projects for MUH are included in the 2023 capital plan. Funding has been allocated in 2023 to progress these projects. I do not like having to say this, but it is fact that management and administrative grade staff in the Fórsa trade union in the HSE commenced industrial action on Friday, 6 October. As a consequence of this industrial action, members in these grades are not engaging with political forums or processes, so the information provided in this response is the most up-to-date the Department can provide. The Deputy might therefore be further advanced with respect to the answer than what I have to tell him, given he lives locally and will have on-the-ground information.

The projects include building works associated with the replacement of the existing CT scanner. Proposed works include the construction of an extension to house the new CT scanner and construction work is under way. Electrical upgrades are to be delivered under multiple phases. Phase 1c is under construction and submissions are to follow for phases 2 and 3. The hospital sterile services department reconfiguration and upgrade is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 or early 2024. The projects the Deputy is most concerned about are a new ground-floor extension to the emergency department, the reconfiguration of the existing emergency department and a new MAU. It is proposed that these projects will lead to seven new assessment and treatment spaces in the emergency department. A new first-floor medical assessment unit will also be constructed to provide an additional ten assessment spaces for unscheduled care and ancillary services. This project is at the design feasibility stage. I contacted the office of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, last night to see whether any further information on timelines could be provided, but it just was not available.

In conjunction with the capital projects in MUH, there are other significant projects in County Mayo that will assist with capacity issues. One is the development of a new community nursing unit, CNU, in Ballina. The Ballina CNU capital proposal was completed by the service area and submitted to HSE estates. The submission is going through a process of further validation around projected costs and ensuring it meets population requirements. This will be submitted to the next national capital and property steering committee for review in quarter 1 of 2024. A new CNU is also proposed for Belmullet. A capital submission is being prepared by the service area to follow the same process as in Ballina. Both of these projects are currently at appraisal stage. The Deputy will understand this is part of the 2016 plan to reconfigure 90 CNUs across the country. I understand 43 are complete, with 47 more to be completed. The delivery of capital projects is a dynamic process and is subject to the successful completion of the various approval stages.

The Department is working in conjunction with the HSE to finalise the capital plan for 2024. Once finalised, it will be submitted to the Minister for Health for approval prior to publication, in line with established procedures.

The number and cost of projects competing for inclusion in the annual capital plan invariably exceeds the funding available. The HSE has developed detailed and robust systems and procedures to appraise, manage and deliver infrastructure projects that are aligned to the public spending code.

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