Details have finally emerged of almost €600 million in capital funds being provided this year for hospitals across the State. The funds in many instances will furnish extra beds.
Of the total capital budget of €584 million, some €250 million will be spent on acute hospitals. Of this, €10 million will be spent on A&E units. A further €60 million will be spent in the disability sector and €70 million on information technology.
Among the hospitals to benefit are those that mounted public campaigns highlighting their difficulties in recent months, notably in Wexford, Cavan and Letterkenny general hospitals as well as Dublin's Mater hospital.
The new Health Service Executive (HSE) was asked by Minister for Health Mary Harney to submit a list of all capital developments it wished to undertake, so she could decide how the money would be spent.
She conveyed her decision to the HSE yesterday and it issued a list last night of all hospitals and other healthcare settings that will benefit. The HSE is expected to issue a detailed breakdown in the coming days of how much individual hospitals will receive.
Letterkenny hospital is getting money for a new A&E unit and Wexford hospital is being allocated funding for the extra 19 beds it was promised a number of years ago. The troubled Cavan hospital will also receive funding to fit out a 250-bed ward and operating theatre. The shortage of beds at the hospital has resulted in operations being cancelled on a regular basis and in large numbers of patients on trolleys in A&E.
The Mater hospital, which turned down the offer of Portakabins to cope with the overspill of patients from its crowded A&E unit earlier in the year, will receive funding for a transit ward in which patients can be placed while they wait for inpatient beds after being seen in A&E.
Ennis General Hospital, where seven consultants claimed just three months ago that patients' lives were being put at risk due to years of government neglect, is also to benefit. The hospital has plans for a €20-million extension and refurbishment programme.
Some €584 million was announced for capital spending in the health sector in December's Budget, but details of how it would be spent have not been disclosed until now due to difficulties on a number of fronts. These include changes in health service structures and the fact that negotiations with the Department of Finance on the revenue implications of the capital spending were long and drawn out.
Senior sources in the HSE indicated last night they did not yet know how much had been approved for individual hospitals and would have to discuss it with the Department of Health. The delay in issuing details of the capital spending programme caused frustration in a number of hospitals. They believed they should not have had to wait until mid-June for much-needed developments to be approved.
Among other hospitals that will receive funding for major works this year are: St Vincent's in Dublin, Naas hospital, Connolly hospital, the National Rehabilitation hospital, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, St James's, Beaumont, the Midland regional hospitals at Tullamore, Portlaoise and Mullingar, Birr Unit for the Elderly, St Joseph's in Clonmel, Cork University Hospital, Marymount Hospice in Cork, University College Hospital Galway, Mayo General Hospital and the Coombe Women's Hospital, whose master, Dr Seán Daly, was reported yesterday as saying the hospital had been built cheaply and needed either to be radically overhauled or torn down.
Funding for minor works at other general hospitals, mental health facilities, local health centres, community nursing units for the elderly and childcare units will also be provided. Ms Harney said the funding covers projects throughout the State: "These will each make a significant and visible contribution to improved patient services."