Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

194. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the proposed upgrade of the outpatients' department at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin 12, has been hit by a funding shortfall; his views on whether the outpatient's department in its present guise is not fit for purpose; if his attention has been further drawn to the fact that the outpatient's department sees 1,500 children every week and its waiting area is cramped and unsuitable for wheelchairs; if he will provide the hospital with the necessary funding to upgrade this facility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39153/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is acknowledged that the infrastructure currently in place for the delivery of paediatric acute services in Dublin is inadequate, and that new facilities are required. The new children's hospital is therefore a priority in the Programme for Government. Services which are currently provided at three locations in Dublin will be brought together in the new hospital, which will be co-located with St James's Hospital on its campus in Dublin 8. Two satellite centres, which will operate under the same governance and management as the children's hospital, are planned for the campuses of Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals. In October 2013, the Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform announced that up to €200m would be made available for the hospital from the sale of the National Lottery, adding to the existing €450m Exchequer funding indented for this project and underlining the Government's commitment to it. A design team has been appointed and is working on design development, with the aim of submitting a planning application in June 2015. It is expected that the project will be on site at the St James's campus and at the two satellite centre locations, on the campuses of Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals, in January 2016. The new hospital will have 384 in-patient beds and a further 85 daycare beds, as well as 111 outpatient consulting examination rooms across both the main hospital and satellite centres.

The HSE’s National Capital & Property Steering Committee appraises all projects to be included in the Capital Plan. The current Capital Plan, which outlines the health service’s construction priorities for 2014 and the multi-annual period 2014–2018, does not include the project referred to by the Deputy but does include other paediatric projects at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin, specifically an Acute Child Sexual Assault Assessment & Treatment Unit and a new Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory. Infrastructural and clinical risks are being actively managed from an operational perspective at the children's hospitals and funding has been made available to address such issues. The requirement for capital investment in the existing children’s hospitals to sustain and improve patient services in advance of the move to the new children's hospital will continue to be considered in the context of the priorities in the capital programme.