A new 200-bed cardiac and renal unit is due to be built at Cork University Hospital (CUH). The €70 million project is due to get under way in six to eight weeks.
The tender for the project has been approved by the Health Service Executive and a number of cardiologists have provided input on the planning and design of the facility.
The development will consist of a cardiac unit as well as diagnostic and rehabilitation facilities, outpatient facilities, 150 cardiac beds and 50 dialysis beds. Counselling and training services will also be provided in the new unit.
The project is regarded as a milestone in terms of cardiac and kidney care for Cork patients. It will more than double the number of beds in the existing renal unit.
Cork University Hospital already provides cardiac surgery and other cardiology services to the wider Munster region.
Cardiovascular disease - including heart disease, stroke and related disease - is the single largest cause of death in Ireland.
The Cork/Kerry region has some of the highest incidences of premature mortality from cardiovascular disease and from ischaemic heart disease in the State.
Coronary heart disease accounts for some 25 per cent of all deaths within the Cork and Kerry region.
Meanwhile, members of the public are being asked to refrain from attending the CUH accident and emergency unit, which has had to deal with a record number of patients in recent days.
People are being requested to contact their GPs in the first instance until the current pressures on A&E are alleviated.
The A&E unit has seen increased levels of activity since the May bank holiday weekend, with an average of 150 people having presented themselves at the facility each day last week.
A spokesman for the hospital said that the reasons for the increase in attendance at A&E included "increased levels of complex and mixed emergency admissions as well as seasonal factors".