Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. As the Minister of State knows, St. Stephen's Hospital in Glanmire, County Cork, is the location for one of three new elective hospitals in the country, with the others in Galway and Dublin. We finally got word approximately six months ago that Glanmire was the preferred site in Cork. That process took far too long. At the time, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, stated that he wanted to take this by the scruff of the neck and get on with the job. To be fair to him, he has repeatedly stressed and emphasised that delivery is a vital part of what we are trying to do. We need this facility. That is well recognised. It will have the capacity for almost 180,000 procedures per year, once built and operational. Most importantly, these elective hospitals are designed to take the pressure off our overburdened emergency departments. We have been talking about this elective hospital in Cork for six years. People want to see action. They want to see design teams appointed and on the ground. They want to see plans drawn up and work commencing as quickly as possible.

I understand that at a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Health, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, confirmed that a design team had, in fact, been appointed and is working on a detailed design. He concluded that he expects we could be in a position to move to tender by the final quarter of this year, with planning secured, detailed design done and signed off. Those were the words attributed to the Minister. That is obviously welcome but at the same committee meeting, the Minister acknowledged that the process heretofore had taken too long, mainly on account of having to adhere strictly to the public spending code. He said he hopes the process could be sped up, where possible. He concluded that his Department and the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform would work together to find additional opportunities to speed up the process. Will the Minister of State advise as to what additional opportunities the Minister was referencing and outline how he proposes to expedite the process?

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. As he knows, the cross-party Sláintecare report in 2017 articulated a new vision for healthcare in Ireland, including the provision of elective-only hospitals providing protected capacity for elective care. This policy has since been informed by a number of subsequent policy documents and Government decisions, including the national elective ambulatory care strategy agreed by the Government in December 2021.

This national strategy aims to change the way in which day cases, scheduled procedures, surgeries, scans and outpatient services can be better arranged to ensure greater capacity in the future and help to reduce waiting times at a national level. The development of additional capacity will be provided through dedicated, stand-alone elective hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin. The elective care scope of services will be developed in two phases, commencing with day cases, diagnostics and outpatients, and then inpatient treatment. On this basis, the elective hospitals will be designed to provide sufficient capacity to facilitate further phases, including some elective inpatient capacity, thereby providing a sustainable and strategic response to cater for the highly dynamic landscape of healthcare policy and practice.

In December 2022, the Government approved the next stage of the enhanced provision of the elective care programme and progression of the development of new elective hospitals in Cork and Galway. The preferred site recommended to be brought forward in Cork is at St. Stephen’s Hospital in Glanmire, as the Deputy said.

It is important to note that we need to follow due process with regard to developing these plans to ensure value for money from this significant strategic development. We are, therefore, following the processes as set out in the public spending code. The planning phase now requires the HSE to develop detailed project briefs, a procurement strategy and pre-tender business cases for the new elective hospitals. Once ready, these will be submitted to the Department of Health for consideration at decision gate 2 of the public spending code prior to approval to proceed to tender. As the Deputy will appreciate, there is considerable service design and planning associated with the development of these documents but it is expected that this will be done in quarter 3 of this year.

The planning that the HSE is undertaking will give a better indication of the construction timelines for these significant projects and updates will be available in due course. However, the Government is, at present, looking to the elective hospitals to receive their first patients in 2027 and to be fully operational in 2028.

I am conscious of the strong public support for these new facilities and the desire expressed by many, including the Deputy, for them to be developed as quickly as possible. I assure the Deputy that the Minister and the Ministers of State in the Department of Health share this desire and the Department will continue to engage with the HSE to ensure the timely delivery of the new elective hospital in Cork.

I met with the Minister yesterday. He has just come back from a meeting about the elective hospitals. He is very anxious for progress to be made as quickly as possible. The Deputy has asked specific questions. The reference to quarter 3 of this year and a timeline of 2027 are the only details I have at the moment, I am afraid.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. Perhaps we can talk later about the meeting the Minister had. Perhaps the Minister of State can tell me the exact details of it.

This has been a long time coming. It is going to be a major project in my constituency. I had selfishly hoped that the announcement of this hospital would trigger the start of development of the north ring road, for which we have been waiting 25 years, but alas that did not happen. We all know the planning issues for roads and all the different assessments that need to happen.

I welcome the fact that the project is moving along and people have been appointed to undertake their design brief and so on. In the future, via questions on promised legislation or by way of a Topical Issue, I will be persistently raising this issue. People get dismayed when they see delays to certain projects. While I realise these are large-scale projects that are not straightforward, we need to keep on top of them to ensure they happen because for too long we have been waiting for these projects to move to the point to which they have now moved. The benefits of the St. Stephen's Hospital site have been well documented. It is a greenfield site of over 100 acres that will allow for future development and expansion if it is required. Other sites that were mooted locally did not have those advantages. I am encouraged that progress is being made. It is important to reiterate to the Minister that we want to keep on top of the project and ensure it is top of the agenda. I am encouraged that will be the case if the Minister is getting regular briefs and engaging in regular meetings.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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As I said earlier, the HSE is now working through the planning phase for the new elective hospital in Cork. The Department of Health will consider the plans at decision gate 2 in the autumn before giving approval to proceed to tender. As the Deputy will appreciate, there are many complex factors involved in an infrastructure project of this size. The HSE's detailed planning will give a better understanding of the timeline for the work. I assure the Deputy we are working to get the hospitals built and up and running as soon as possible. As I said earlier, we are expecting the elective hospitals to receive their first patients in 2027. This is a priority for the Minister. He happened to mention to me that he had a meeting during the week on this issue. He is anxious to get progress quickly. We know the early stages of procurement, planning and design can take a long time but we are trying to expedite those as much as possible.