Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be given the opportunity to raise this important issue and thank the Minister of State for being here today. As he knows, at the start of last year his predecessor, Kathleen Lynch, announced one of the most comprehensive investment programmes in public nursing home facilities in the history of the State. As part of this €400 million investment programme by the Government, 33 existing home facilities throughout the country will be replaced and 57 others will be refurbished or extended. Before this breakthrough announcement, many communities feared that some nursing homes would be closed because of a failure to meet the required HIQA standards. With this significant funding programme, that will now not be the case.

In County Roscommon, the Plunkett home in my town of Boyle and Áras Mháthair Phóil in Castlerea benefit from €1.14 million and €850,000, respectively. The single biggest beneficiary in County Roscommon was the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon town. After a long and hard fought campaign by many stakeholders, including myself, €9 million in funding was finally secured to upgrade its facilities. The funding allocation of €9 million will ensure that the facility will become compliant with the environmental aspects of HIQA standards by 2021. It is important to state that HIQA inspections of the Sacred Heart Hospital have confirmed the excellence of care that residents receive, which is reassuring for residents and their families. If I may be a little parochial, my mother, who is 89 years of age, has been in the Sacred Heart Hospital for the past two months. My family and I are absolutely delighted with the care she receives and I thank the doctors, nurses and staff there.

Many people like my mother are availing of rehabilitative care but the health care ranges from continual care to rehabilitative, palliative and respite care for up to 95 residents. However, as is the case with many long-established public nursing homes, the physical environment needs improvement. Part of the Sacred Heart building dates from 1842 and has undergone modifications over the years to improve facilities but HIQA inspections have found that significant structural improvements are required to ensure compliance. From my regular visits, it is evident that the building is not designed and laid out to meet fully the needs of the residents. Most of the bedrooms are multi-occupancy and accommodate up to four beds in each room. No one can argue that this does not impact on the privacy and dignity of residents.

Thankfully, a specific plan is now in place to make provision for a new 50-bed unit on the site of the Sacred Heart Hospital. This will involve an extensive refurbishment of the building to provide residents' accommodation in en-suite, single and two-bed rooms along with a suitable communal space and sanitary facilities. As I stated at the outset, the funding was announced more than a year ago. We now need a commencement date for the works on the new Sacred Heart unit. I hope the Minister of State can give an indication of the timescale today.