Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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356. To ask the Minister for Health the current estimate of the cost of the children's research and innovation centre in the new national children’s hospital project. [43282/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) has statutory responsibility for planning, designing, building and equipping the new children's hospital.  I have referred your question to the NPHDB for direct reply.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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357. To ask the Minister for Health the current estimate of the cost of information and communication technology in the new national children’s hospital project. [43283/19]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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359. To ask the Minister for Health the current estimate of the cost of the electronic healthcare record in the new national children’s hospital project. [43285/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 357 and 359 together.

The implementation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the Electronic Health Record into the new children's hospital supports my Department's eHealth strategy and commitments under the Sláintecare Action Plan.

The estimate for ICT in the new national children’s hospital is €149 million, based on market soundings.  The estimated ICT costs incorporate the requirements for clinical and non-clinical ICT such as ICT infrastructure, corporate systems and integration.  This also includes the costs of an Electronic Health Record, which will be procured separately. 

Government approval was given in July 2019 for the initiation of the procurement process for an Electronic Health Record in the new national children's hospital and that procurement process has commenced.  Therefore estimated costs are commercially sensitive.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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358. To ask the Minister for Health the current estimate of the cost of the children’s hospital integration programme in the new national children’s hospital project. [43284/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The overall programme to deliver the new children’s hospital also entails a complex integration of the existing hospitals, the opening of the Outpatient and Urgent Care Centres and the transfer of services to the new hospital facilities in due course while maintaining existing services, patient safety and quality at three existing sites represent a highly complex project in its own right. A major programme of work is underway focused on transformative service change to merge three separate hospitals while maintaining existing services, patient safety and quality at three existing sites. The recent establishment of Children’s Health Ireland provides the strengthened governance structure required to continue the service reorganisation, including staff deployment, oversee the complex work of integration and transition to the new facilities and run the hospital and outpatient and urgent care centres when they are built.

The Children’s Hospital Integration Programme resource requirements from 2016 to 2023 are estimated at a cumulative €86m revenue including VAT over the period. These costs were included in the overall cost approved by Government in December 2018 and relate to the resources required for corporate and clinical integration, merger of three hospitals, standardisation of clinical processes, clinical support, non-clinical and corporate process, commissioning, transitioning and decommissioning of existing sites and user engagement to support the capital project.