Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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844. To ask the Minister for Health if she will consider upgrading services at Navan accident and emergency department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54894/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the HSE has proposed planned service changes at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan in line with the Securing the Future of Smaller Hospitals: A Framework for Development (2013), to ensure the safe and sustained delivery of services, with patient safety being the primary concern.

I want to assure the Deputy that no decision regarding the HSE’s proposal for the transition of the Emergency Department at Navan has been agreed by me or by this Government.

I recognise that proposed changes to hospital services can cause much concern among the communities who use those services. It is important to note that the purpose of the reconfiguration changes that the HSE has put forward are about enabling Navan Hospital to provide more care, not less.

More broadly, services are being enhanced in Our Lady’s Hospital Navan under a number of different national health programmes and plans. The hospital has received a significant increase in funding from 2020 to 2025 at almost 50%. In the same period, staffing has increased by 14% and bed numbers by 30%. Under the Acute Hospital Bed Expansion Plan a total of 46 new and replacement beds will be delivered at Our Lady's Hospital Navan by 2031. This includes 31 beds delivered between 2021-2024 and 15 beds between March 2025 – 2028.

In 2024, the hospital completed a Rheumatology Day Centre and refurbished the Orthopaedic Theatres. The refurbishment of the hospital’s Outpatient Department is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. Ongoing capital investment projects in the Capital Programme also include an extension to the rear of the outpatient department (Rheumatology Day Centre) and an upgrade of Electrical Power Infrastructure including a new Main Distribution Board and upgrade of electrical backup provision.

Future plans include a new Pulmonary Function Laboratory and public car park refurbishment both due for completion later this year.