Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Burke for raising this issue. Again, I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Health for his absence, as he is attending the funeral of a victim of the tragedy in California.

The Minister recently met with the chair of the non-executive advisory board for reconfiguration of acute hospital services in Cork and Kerry to receive the board's final report. This report is the culmination of an extensive and pioneering process. The reconfiguration of acute services in Cork and Kerry has led the way for the development of hospital groups and the safer provision of services in smaller hospitals. Like most ground-breaking projects, it has not been an easy process but it has been the right one. It both anticipated and reflected developing concerns about smaller hospitals around the State.

In 2010 the report, Reconfiguration of Acute Hospital Services, Cork and Kerry: A roadmap to Develop an Integrated University Hospital Network, was published following wide consultation. Following the 2009 review of acute services in Cork and Kerry by Horwath and Teamwork, the roadmap provided a practical guide for developing safe and sustainable clinical services in the region.The plan involved integrating acute services into one hospital across six campuses. Complex care would be centred in larger facilities, with as much acute care as possible being provided locally. Professor John Higgins was appointed director of reconfiguration and the advisory board, chaired by Mr. Michael O'Flynn, was established.

The process has driven unprecedented change in acute care provision in the region. This has been achieved during extremely challenging economic times, with reduced budgets and staff numbers and increased activity levels. A major initiative was making the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital the State's first dedicated elective hospital, in combination with the modernisation and reorganisation of emergency facilities across Cork city from five hospitals to two. The process is not yet complete. Since the roadmap, the south-south west hospital group has been established, in line with the hospital groups report. As the Senator said, the group includes acute services in Cork, Kerry, Waterford and south Tipperary. Therefore, there is now a need to fully integrate acute services in Waterford and south Tipperary into the wider group.

The road map recommended a single elective hospital in Cork, amalgamating the Mercy University Hospital and the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, to be built in a modular fashion over ten to 15 years. While the Minister acknowledges the board's recommendation, work needs to be done on assessing options and analysing the cost-benefit of any such project. Regarding site selection, a significant amount of work needs to be done before any concrete plan emerges that would support a rational and sustainable choice of location. The question of site selection would be a matter in the first instance for the south-south west hospital group, with input, as necessary, from HSE estates. The Minister and his Department would not have a direct role in that regard.

Regarding capital funding and site acquisition costs, the HSE would need to consider the proposal and prioritise the project in the context of other capital requirements around the country. The Minister and his Department would have no objection to any proposal to undertake an options appraisal for the new hospital, as well as a cost-benefit analysis, as the first steps towards assessing the viability of the proposal.