The Blackrock Clinic has secured planning permission for a new cardiology department, so-called eye centre and additional inpatient bedrooms at its south Dublin site.
The planned new facilities are the first phase of a 16-year master plan which will also includes a second hospital building on site.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council Council has given the first-phase planning permission after concluding that the planned two-storey extension to the side of the main hospital building is acceptable.
Planning documents lodged with the application show the Larry Goodman Trust-owned hospital is proceeding with the master plan “for the overall site following the acquisition of several neighbour sites adjoining the campus”.
McGill Planning states that some of the main elements of the expansion “will include the provision of a dedicated cancer centre, a new specialised women’s health centre, additional theatre capacity and additional high-tech interventional cardiology laboratories”.
The clinic admitted 52,185 inpatient and day-care patients in 2023 and this figure is expected to grow to 78,000 by 2033, which is about a 50 per cent increase over the next decade, they add.
“Blackrock Clinic is currently operating at full capacity. In order to meet future growth in demand for medical services, the hospital will need to significantly expand its capacity and invest in the construction of major new medical facilities on the hospital campus,” McGill said.
McGill Planning revealed that the existing St Catherine’s site will host the second hospital building and deliver additional theatres; additional cath lab capacity to meet growing demand in existing services; the development of a new cancer centre; and the addition of new inpatient bed capacity.
McGill Planning state that Henry J Lyons architects and urban designers were appointed in September 2023 to develop a master plan following competitive tender.
McGill Planning points out that this proposed two-storey extension application “is the first of several planning applications that will be submitted to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to enable the delivery of the master plan”.
On the need for the additional beds at Blackrock Clinic, McGill Planning states an increase in demand for emergency care “means the hospital’s inpatient beds are operating at full capacity. This two-floor extension will increase this capacity and provide 14 single-occupancy inpatient bedrooms to ensure acutely unwell patients can be admitted in a timely manner to receive emergency medical treatment”.
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