Extra funding for flood-hit Midleton Hospital and Owenacurra Mental Health facility
Flood levels of the Owenacurra River adjoining Woodlands Estate, Midleton, are being closely monitored as the potential for repeat flooding of some properties is high. Picture: Cork County Council
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has confirmed that extra funding will be provided to Midleton Hospital and the Owenacurra Mental Health facility which were flooded this week.
Speaking in Galway where he officially opened the new €70.7m new Saolta Radiation Oncology Centre at University Hospital Galway, Mr Donnelly told the that the funding would be provided once a remediation report was carried out. “Certainly any remediation works that will be required - we’ll get a report in to see what’s required and any remediation works will of course be funded,” he said.
The health minister also insisted that the new National Children’s Hospital “should” be open by 2025. He said that the timelines he was given when first appointed as Minister for Health, indicated that the contractor would hand over the new hospital to the State in March of next year but they now had a revised timeline of October next year. There is a six month commissioning period from then, meaning the hospital should be open by early-mid 2025.
“The hospital is, I'm told, over 90% complete and what's happening now is the internal fit out,” he said. “And it is a very complex project and it is taking time,” he told reporters.
The beleaguered Health Minister fielded many questions about the funding announced for Health in Budget 2024. Asked if he agreed with Róisin Shortall’s description of the Department of Public Expenditure and Public Reform in the Dáil yesterday as a “disgrace,” Minister Donnelly admitted the objectives of that department and his own “don’t always match up.”
“The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have a job to do. They have to try and manage to the best extent possible the national accounts in health. We have a different job to do. Our job is to advocate for patients and to push and demand better and better services quicker and quicker access for patients. Those two jobs don't always match up. Obviously healthcare is very, very expensive,” he said.
“There isn't the same funding next year to continue at the same pace we have been continuing last year. So we'll be focusing on obviously all of the progress that has been made remains and we will be focusing on consolidating that and making sure we can provide the best possible service,” he said.
When asked what areas would see cost-savings being made next year to deal with the lower health budget, the minister replied that his department would be focusing on “productivity savings” rather than cost savings.
He said shifting patient care from the hospital to the community was cheaper and more productive, as was investing in advanced nurse and social care practitioners.
“We're going to be able to have different conversations with the hospitals to say some things you're doing are fantastic. A lot of what you're doing is about where it should be. There are things that we think you can do better, he said.
Mr Donnelly also referred to the “in-depth report” he announced in the Dáil into the future costs of healthcare.
“The point I was making in the Dáil was getting to this sacred land that we all want to get to have universal health care, which I believe is a cornerstone of our Republic that we must absolutely achieve,” he said.
“Getting there is really really expensive. And there has never been a detailed costed map to say if you want to get there in the next five years, six years, seven years, this is what it's going to cost you every year,” he said. When asked if this should have been done before, Mr Donnelly moved on to answer other questions.
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