David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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49. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to develop a community nursing and residential care unit at Midleton Community Hospital, County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23691/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In early 2016, a Capital Programme for Older Persons Residential Centres was developed and agreed with the Department of Health in response to the introduction of HIQA’s National Residential Care Standards for Older People.

Of the 129 public nursing homes 57 of these required to be refurbished/upgraded and extended, while 33 required to be replaced. The remaining 39 units already complied with HIQA standards or do not have any long stay beds. Funding of €535m was allocated to this programme from 2016 to 2021. €150m of this funding is for the provision of new replacement Community Nursing Units by means of a Private Public Partnership procurement process.

Midleton CNU is one of the seven CNU’s currently included in a single bundle of CNU’s to be developed by Public Private partnership (PPP). The HSE are currently evaluating tender submissions for the PPP Project with a view to identifying the preferred tenderer in Q1 2021.

Design Teams and Technical Advisors have been appointed and planning permission has been received for all sites. The procurement of the PPP provider has commenced with the Prior Indicative Notice published in the Official Journal of the European Commission (OJEC), the evaluation of the tenders is completed and the competitive dialogue is now underway.

It is important to recognise that the delivery of capital projects is a dynamic process and is subject to the successful completion of the various approval stages, in line with the Public Spending Code, which can impact on the timeline for delivery.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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50. To ask the Minister for Health the details of future plans within the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group, in particular St Michael’s Hospital, Dún Laoghaire, and St. Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, County Dublin. [23660/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, comprising St Vincent’s University Hospital, St Michael’s Hospital and St Columcille’s Hospital, is part of the Ireland East Hospital Group.

Each hospital in the Group has a vital role to play, with smaller hospitals such as St Michael’s Hospital and St Columcille’s Hospital managing routine, urgent or planned care locally, and more complex care managed in the larger hospitals.

There has been a number of new developments at these hospitals recently; at St Columcille’s, funding has been received for the building of a purpose-built weight management centre, which is now at the design stage and last week, funding was approved for the National Gender Service at the hospital.

A Heart Failure Virtual Consultation Service for the benefit of patients of St Vincent’s and St Michael’s has been established, as well as an End to End Respiratory Model which will provide co-ordinated services for patients in the community, reducing demand on hospital services.

As part of the implementation of Sláintecare, there is a strong focus at national and Hospital Group level, working with CHOs, on the redesign of health services to promote greater integration, including the establishment of regional health areas. Plans for the hospitals will be taken forward in this context.