Local Councillor, Charlie O’Connor has called for progress to be made in respect of the long awaited Intensive Care Unit extension at Tallaght University Hospital. He raised the matter at the October meeting of the Regional Health Forum Dublin Mid Leinster and asked for assurances that the project is not being delayed because of funding issues.
In response to Charlie O’Connor, the CEO of Dublin Midlands Hospital Group stated that: “Expansion of the ICU capacity at TUH is vital to address current constraints that result in the most vulnerable of patients waiting too long to access intensive care services and the associated patient safety issues. The planned development will address the current and future ICU capacity requirements of the Hospital and the wider Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, ensure national critical care standards are met and further improve the safety and quality of care provided to the most critically ill patients and their families.The Hospital has been working towards this development for quite some time having gone through the planning permission process with planning permission granted for the 12 bed ICU extension adjacent to the existing ICU on the second floor in February 2018. When funding is released to build the extension it will be a 1,500 m2 €13M capital development which will see the ICU capacity for TUH increase by an additional 12 beds over two phases.
The Hospital is currently progressing through detailed design phase with the aim of publishing a construction tender in January 2020 but this is subject to HSE funding. The Hospital had hoped that funding would be approved quickly given the extension of the ICU was highlighted as an investment priority for the Government in the National Development Plan 2017-2027 and the Hospital is running at 112% occupancy of its critical care capacity. Any delay in funding approval would be of grave concern to the Hospital.”
According to Charlie O’Connor “this project is of vital importance to the Tallaght community and it is imperative that HSE funding would be allocated without delay”.
Charlie O’Connor has stressed that he will continue to give this matter his particular attention and will continue to raise the matter with HSE and the Government.
