Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this issue and for giving me an opportunity to respond. The NRH in Dún Laoghaire in Dublin provides complex specialist rehabilitation services to patients who, as a result of an accident, illness or injury, have acquired a physical or cognitive disability and require specialist medical rehabilitation. The hospital has a reputation for excellence, as Senator Boyhan said, and provides patients with every opportunity to meet their rehabilitation goals through personalised treatment plans delivered by consultant-led interdisciplinary teams expert in their fields.

Services provided at the hospital include a paediatric programme which is delivered by a paediatric team based on campus with clinical oversight provided by a consultant paediatrician who is based off-campus at another hospital. Until recently this consultant paediatric oversight had been provided by a paediatrician at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, whose contract includes a seven-hour clinical attachment to the NRH. I am advised by the Health Service Executive, HSE, that the consultant paediatrician in question has recently gone on unplanned long-term leave and arising from this unforeseen development, Our Lady's Children's Hospital is not in a position to provide consultant oversight to the National Rehabilitation Hospital's paediatric programme. In light of this, the NRH has reluctantly closed its inpatient paediatric service on the basis that it is not possible to appropriately assess and triage new paediatric referrals and medically manage paediatric patients without consultant paediatric input.

I am aware that the parents of children requiring inpatient and day care services at the NRH are very concerned and I assure them that all is being done by the HSE to address this situation. The Children's hospital group has confirmed that officials have been working to identify another consultant paediatrician with an interest in disability to fill the vacancy to provide appropriate clinical paediatric oversight to the services provided in the NRH. I understand that a meeting between officials in the HSE community healthcare organisation, CHO, 6, the NRH and the Children's hospital group is being arranged imminently to discuss possible options required to affect the resumption of a sustainable service as soon as possible. In the interim, the paediatric team at the NRH will continue to carry out assessments and provide therapies and outpatient services to existing paediatric patients.

The Government recognised the excellent rehabilitation programme which the NRH delivers and the hospital's excellent patient outcomes. A key priority at the moment is delivery of replacement accommodation at the hospital. This development will see the existing ward accommodation replaced by a new fit-for-purpose ward accommodation block of 120 single en suite rooms with integrated therapy spaces, a new sports hall, a hydrotherapy unit and a temporary concourse, as well as clinical and ancillary spaces. It will be a major enhancement to rehabilitation services in the country and will have a direct and significant impact on patient recovery by providing an optimal ward and therapeutic environment for patient treatment at the NRH. Construction work is currently under way and the new development is expected to be operational in 2020. Funding for phase 1 and phase 2 of this major redevelopment project was included in the Government's recently announced Project Ireland 2040 policy, part of an overall €10.9 billion strategic investment in health.