Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the House for the invitation to attend the Seanad for statements on the Health Service Executive Capital Plan 2019. I am pleased that the Government will invest over €2 billion in capital funding in our public health services between 2019 and 2021. In the company of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, I had the pleasure recently to launch the HSE capital plan, which is the first capital plan to be approved by the new board of the HSE. In accordance with the relevant legislation, the plan has been approved by me, as Minister for Health, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and represents a continued sign of the investment taking place in our health service. The plan should be viewed in the context of being the first phase of our ten-year capital investment programme, Project Ireland 2040. We have committed under the plan to 250 projects nationally over the next three years. The plan includes 480 new beds, 30 new primary care centres, 58 community nursing units and a significant investment in mental health and disability projects in communities.

As we reform the health service in line with Sláintecare, it is vital to continue to invest in capital infrastructure and, crucially, in community and social care settings. The capital plan is based on an increased investment budget of €642 million in 2019 for the construction and equipping of our health facilities. This represents an increase of €224 million on last year's capital provision. While the health service has been well invested in over many years from a current spending perspective, we have fallen down, in particular during the lost decade arising from the recession, in our investment in capital infrastructure, including more hospital beds. We had a bizarre situation in which previous Governments were reducing the number of hospital beds long before the troika came to town. A great deal of our infrastructure is old and we need to move beyond Florence Nightingale style wards to single rooms with en suite facilities. As such, a significant modernisation programme is required.

The capital plan provides for the spending of just over €2 billion on hundreds of health capital projects, with over €1 billion on Government priorities, including our new children's hospital. I am amazed at the number of people in this and the other House who speak about the new national children's hospital but have never visited the site. I repeat what I said on the record in the Dáil yesterday. I say it on a nearly weekly basis. It is that any Member of these Houses of the Oireachtas who would like to visit the site of the national children's hospital and meet the construction people and doctors to understand the difference the project will make is welcome to do so. It is a pity that only two members of the Joint Committee on Health have so far bothered to visit the new hospital site. I am proud that Senator Colm Burke was one while Deputy Harty was the other. I encourage people to do so in the context of having an informed debate. Senator Devine, in fairness, knows the project very well as it is in her local area. I encourage people to go out and visit the site to see the significant difference this massive project, which has been talked about since I was a child, will make to the delivery of children's healthcare in Ireland.

The funding plan will also cover the national rehabilitation hospital. We were out there recently with regard to the significant upgrading of that facility with single en suite rooms, a new hydrotherapy pool and a new gym area. We will also invest in a new national forensic mental health facility in Portrane to replace the very out-of-date mental health hospital in Dundrum with a modern world-class facility which will open next year. The capital plan also covers radiation oncology facilities in Cork, Galway and Dublin to continue our fight against cancer with a view to improved cancer outcomes. We will provide €265 million over the next three years to replace and refurbish residences for older people and people with disabilities. When I talk about our infrastructure being old, there is nowhere that is more evident than in the case of some of our facilities for older people or those with disabilities or mental health difficulties. These residences are, in effect, their homes but we are asking them to live without the space, dignity and privacy they deserve. We will provide €300 million to maintain and upgrade facilities, equipment and ambulances nationally. Over €335 million will be provided for a wide range of capital projects at individual hospitals and primary community facilities to provide modern health accommodation and equipment.

The major win of the health capital plan this year is as follows. It is easy enough to produce a health capital plan for one year but it took me a while to agree with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform a three-year plan to allow us to provide our health service with the certainty to invest knowing it will have the funding in 2020 and 2021. That provides the service with clarity on funding levels. As we manage and develop new capital projects, we must learn the lessons of past projects. We will be guided by the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers in that regard. Capital funding for our health service will be 165% higher for the next ten years than it was in the previous ten years. In real money terms, that means we will spend almost €11 billion on capital in the next decade versus €4 billion for the previous one. That is a significant increase, thankfully, in funding for our health capital infrastructure.

We must ensure that as we develop capital infrastructure, we align it with Sláintecare. We want to see more facilities in our communities and we want to see a decisive shift towards primary care. We want to see investment in the relocation of our stand-alone maternity hospitals to have them co-located with adult hospitals. The funding has been put in place to do that. I am conscious that a number of colleagues will raise important regional projects today. I see my colleague and friend, Senator Coffey, is in attendance and note the important body of work we have to do in Waterford to provide a second cath lab. I have had some excellent meetings with Oireachtas Members from Waterford, led by Senator Coffey, over a number of months and years. At our last meeting, we had a good update from the HSE, which is on track to lodge the relevant planning application shortly.I suggest to the Senator that perhaps the week after next week's recess, we could convene a meeting of group of Waterford Oireachtas Members and myself to take stock of where the project stands. It would be a very important development.

Senator Lawlor is in regular contact with me regarding the new endoscopy facility that has been long-promised for the people of Naas. There is now funding to proceed with that. I have asked the HSE to come back to me very quickly with a detailed timeline for the delivery of the project. I will revert to the Senator on that as well.

We have many exciting projects under way for Cork too, particularly recognising the fact that Cork does not have an adequate bed base for the population of the region, as Senator Colm Burke reminds me regularly. We need to deliver a new hospital for Cork and I hope significant progress will be made on the agreement for the site by the end of this year and I will certainly work with the Senator in that regard.

I acknowledge Senator Joan Freeman's work in the mental health services area. I am interested in her views and perhaps we could discuss them with regard to our new mental health hospital, which will mark a very significant shift from the facility in Dundrum to that in Portrane. I am very conscious of the fact that the model of care must be about community services and provisions in the community. We have much work to do in that regard and I am sure we will speak about that.

I had the pleasure of meeting Senator Swanick in Mayo at the opening of the new Mayo-Roscommon hospice in Castlebar on Friday. Should there be any doubt, I should say that every single cent of the money to build that hospice came from fund-raising and incredible dedication in the community. People have waited for this for 20 years or longer but the good news is we will provide current funding to run the hospice and meet its operating costs from 2020. It is good news and it is something on which Senators worked with me. I should not forget the projects brought to my attention by the Acting Chairman, including the new Beaumont accident and emergency department and the cystic fibrosis unit, which will make a difference.

Senator Devine is regularly in contact with me about the children's hospital and many other matters.