Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of Macroom Community Hospital in the interests of the 38 residents, their families, the staff and the wider community. I would like to see if we can progress things. The hospital offers great care. It is well recognised by the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, the HSE and the locals. One can see that by the demand for places. However, there are issues with the building. They have been identified for many years now. There has been a repeated cycle of plans and commitments and non-delivery and of further plans and commitments and non-delivery, and this goes on. We need to see progress on this. We have seen other community hospitals in similar positions make progress but Macroom Community Hospital has slipped behind.

There is concern among residents, staff and the wider community. People are asking if the national children's hospital's demand for additional funding is going to have some impact on Macroom. As far back as 2008 and 2009, there were plans to carry out development. The HIQA report highlighted the great care, but it also pointed out issues with the building concerning privacy, storage space for residents and the need to move away from the open-ward model to more private rooms. The subsequent HIQA licences were granted on the condition of works being carried out or plans being advanced. That was in 2017 and 2018. I am delighted the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, is taking this Topical Issue matter because I know he has been there and has seen the situation on the ground and the wonderful care provided. He has also seen the need. According to media reports, the Minister of State said that planning permission would be advanced by October of last year.

October came and went, as did November, December, January and February. It is now March and there is still no plan. Members should bear in mind that there was planning permission as long ago as 2008 and 2009. That was allowed to lapse in 2013. We need to get to the stage where there planning application is secured, funding is committed, works are under way and real commitment is shown to Macroom Community Hospital. I discovered when talking with the HSE late last year that €5.8 million was needed for it. Even at that stage, the HSE was expecting planning permission in the first quarter of this year, that is, about March. We have reached that point and there has still been no planning application. We need something definite. We need works on the ground so that residents, their families and the wider community know there is a commitment to Macroom Community Hospital and that the residents are to have the greatest possible comfort. These are basic and fundamental issues, namely, storage space for residents' clothes, privacy and closing off the current open wards. These are practical matters of day-to-day dignity.

In 2016, when there was a demand for the commercial outfits to deliver, they had to deliver within a deadline. However, the hospitals were given an extra five years. That deadline is approaching and the work does not seem to have been done for Macroom Community Hospital, although it was in other cases.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht deis a thabhairt dom labhairt ar an ábhar seo sa Teach inniu.

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. This is clearly what older people want and what everybody in this House wants. We also have patients who are in genuine need of residential care, either on a long-stay or a short-stay basis, and their safety and well-being is of paramount concern. Residential care is provided through a mix of public, voluntary and private provision. It is worth highlighting that the budget for long-term residential care in 2019 is €985 million, and at any one time an average of more than 23,000 clients will be in receipt of financial support.

The HSE is responsible for the delivery of health and personal social services, including those at facilities such as Macroom Community Hospital. Operating a 24-hour care service seven days a week, the hospital provides support to the elderly population of Macroom town and neighbouring parishes in North Lee West. There is a multidisciplinary team which looks after the needs of the residents, providing long-stay care, convalescence, respite and palliative care. The maximum number of residents which can be accommodated is 38. The existing residential care setting provides multi-occupancy shared bedroom accommodation, where highly dependent residents who are in need of 24-hour high-support nursing care or are in transition from hospital to nursing home care are accommodated together.

As the Deputy is aware, community hospitals like Macroom 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 recognise that many public units are housed in buildings that are less than ideal in the modern context. Without these units, however, many older people would not have access to the care that 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 announced in 2016. The programme 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, HIQA. This programme includes a number of facilities in Cork, including Macroom Community Hospital. 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.

I have visited Macroom hospital and updated the staff and management to the effect that the project was at design stage and planning permission is due to be lodged shortly with a view to completion by 2021. There was considerable change in the project scope which required recommencing the approval process. The project will proceed under the capital investment programme, which is part of Project Ireland 2040. Further progress will be subject to the granting of planning permission and the availability of funding for capital projects.

The HSE capital plan for 2019 is being finalised and will be submitted for approval to the Minister for Health very shortly. 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.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the update. While I appreciate that there is a long lead-in time for capital projects, Macroom Community Hospital has been identified as a need and planning permission was granted for the project almost ten years ago. How long is a long lead-in time for an extension to a hospital? Two and possibly three generations of people have moved through the hospital in that time. It is in the interests of the dignity and privacy of those who will next use the hospital that these essential works are carried out. I note the Minister of State visited the hospital and indicated that works would be carried out shortly. It was stated at that time that planning permission would be granted in October 2018. As such, there has been further slippage, even in the past year.

I note what the Minister of State said on funding. We understand that funding of some €5.8 million was allocated previously but staff and families are concerned that the demand for money for the national children's hospital will challenge that in some way. We need to address that issue as well. Those involved in Macroom Community Hospital do not feel the project is a priority. If it is a priority, however, the Minister of State should not be under pressure for funding. He should have first call on the money if it is a priority project.

In the interests of Macroom Community Hospital, we need the Minister of State to set out a roadmap for the project. What are the steps and timelines involved and when will it be delivered? We have heard many commitments and seen many slippages. We now need delivery.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat arís, a Theachta. I visited the hospital some time ago at the invitation of my colleague, the Minster for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, who asked me to meet the staff and management. I was accompanied by HSE management and we gave the assurances that were required on the day. My office remains in regular contact with the management in Macroom Community Hospital and I understand managers often speak to my office. The Minister, Deputy Creed, asks me almost every fortnight for an update on the project.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It still does not have planning permission.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I cannot grant planning permission. The Deputy is referring to-----

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I refer to the planning application.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have the floor. The Deputy has made charges and I am now allowed to respond. He referred to having planning permission in 2008. I have no control over what happened in 2008 or the reason the building project did not progress. We can make a good guess as to why it did not happen. Obviously, it was for reasons of finance. We are where we are and we want to get the project back on track. I have given a commitment that I will do that for the local community. I have assured the Minister, Deputy Creed, that the project will be delivered and it will be delivered. However, as I said, significant change was made to the scope of the project which required that it be resubmitted for approval.

The Deputy is referring to a delay of two or three months, which is not earth shattering for a capital project of the size of the one we are delivering for the people in Macroom. We are under a commitment nationally to have this delivered by 2021. We have an agreement with HIQA to have community hospitals in place across the length and breadth of the country. They are in the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's constituency and my constituency. All Deputies have community hospitals in their constituencies on which they want to see progress but there are steps that we have to take. I cannot click a finger and make it happen. Projects must go through a planning process as well as design, project brief and financing stages. That is part and parcel of the process. I cannot give an absolute commitment to a deadline of one day, one week or one month because if the deadline were then to move, the Deputy would be the first to start jumping up and down. I do not control the planning process and must await its outcome. I have given the Deputy a commitment that the project will go to planning shortly. The planning process is independent but I assume it will be successful.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

He may not be able to control the granting of planning permission but the Minister of State can control the making of the application.