Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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162. To ask the Minister for Health for an update on the provision of an oncology unit at University Hospital Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64092/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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A capital submission was made in 2021 for an interim modular building on the roof of the Palliative Care Unit and this was approved in February 2022 at an estimated total project cost of € 9.38 million. That capital submission was developed in response to impacts arising from the covid pandemic and the limited available footprint resulted in a compromised brief where accommodation was to be shared between the Day Treatment Ward and Outpatient Services, and no space was available for an Aseptic Compounding Unit.

In November 2022, the HSE decided to advance a much smaller interim oncology arrangement within approximately 268 square metres of newly vacated accommodation.

The interim Oncology unit was completed in University Hospital Kerry in 2024 at a cost of €2.44m. This project included for 14 No day treatment cubicles plus 2 No day treatment isolation rooms, 7 No outpatient consultation rooms and an Aseptic compound unit.

Any future proposal for a new permanent Oncology and Hematology unit at University Hospital Kerry will in the first instance need to be centered on evidence based demand analysis and established on a need identified by regional colleagues. Following the identification of need, any proposal will be progressed through the Department of Health’s Strategic Health Investment Framework (SHIF). The prioritisation of the capital list will be a matter for the HSE Regional Executive Office and the Regional Director for Planning.