Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1149. To ask the Minister for Health if he will make the necessary funding available to the UL Hospitals Group to enable the new 96 bed unit at University Hospital Limerick to come into use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1175/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is a project to develop a ward block to provide 96 replacement in-patient bed at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and some funding is available to advance its development. This ward block is to be located over the renal dialysis unit which was completed in 2016 and the new Emergency Department (ED) which is projected to be completed in Q1 2017.

It is important to note that a number of construction projects are underway and are being completed at UHL. Acute hospital campuses are complex sites and all construction must be carefully scheduled to ensure that health care services are not impeded. In its 2017 National Service Plan, the HSE states that the following projects are expected to be completed and become operational in 2017/early 2018:

- The new ED will be completed in Q1 2017 and is projected to be operational in Q2 2017. The total estimated capital cost of this significant project is €24m and a current allocation of €1.4m has been allocated to facilitate its opening;

- The acute medical assessment unit and out-patients department are being refurbished and reconfigured to provide 8 additional assessment places and 12 replacement assessment spaces. It has an estimated capital cost of €1.4m;

- A surgical and pre-operative assessment unit is projected to open in Q3 2017 and it will provide 14 additional assessment spaces. It has an estimated capital cost of €0.79m;

- The clinical education and research centre, which is co-funded with the University of Limerick, is projected to be operational from Q4 2017. It has an estimated capital cost of €12.9m.

These projects demonstrate the considerable infrastructure investment underway on the UHL campus. The HSE is concentrating on applying the limited funding available for infrastructure development in the most effective way possible to meet current and future needs.

There is limited funding available for new projects over the next multi-annual period 2016-2021 given the level of commitments and the costs to completion already in place. Future investment at University Hospital Limerick must be considered within the overall acute hospital sector infrastructure programme and within the overall capital envelope available to the health service. It is proposed that there will be a mid-term review of the State’s capital envelope, which will assess progress and review emerging pressures and demands. It is expected that this mid-term review will be completed in 2017.