Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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661. To ask the Minister for Health when the building of a new laboratory in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Navan in County Meath will take place, as it has been on the estates management construction list for the past seven years. [37407/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Any proposals for a new laboratory at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan must be considered within the overall acute hospital sector infrastructure programme, the overall capital envelope available to the health service, the future direction of laboratory services nationally and in the context of the establishment of hospital groups.

As the Deputy will be aware, Our Lady’s Hospital Navan is now a constituent hospital within the Ireland East Hospital Group. The initial focus is on getting the Hospital Group up and running as a single cohesive entity. The Hospital Group will be required to develop a strategic plan to describe how they will provide more efficient and effective patient services and reorganise these services to provide optimal care to the population to ensure that acute services are delivered across a number of sites in a networked way. I am confident that there will be a structured integration of acute services in Navan into the Ireland East Group which will provide further support for the hospital in delivering high-quality safe patient care.

As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.