2026-01-22

14. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Health for an update on the planned redevelopment of the emergency department at Beaumont Hospital, including the current status of the design and planning stages and projected timeline for tendering and construction; to confirm that the project remains a priority within the HSE capital plan; the expected opening date of the new emergency department; the expected opening date of the proposed 95 bed block; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5027/26]

First, I thank the hardworking women and men of Beaumont Hospital. When I was in fifth year, I was extremely unwell and they looked after me and cared for me. When my mother suffered a polytrauma, they looked after me. However, thousands of constituents are contacting me about the accident and emergency department. Recently, I visited Patricia Anderson from Riverside whose husband spent 14 hours in a chair and then two months later would not go to the accident and emergency department. Sadly, he passed away in the driveway of his house. The current accident and emergency department is an absolute shambles. We need an update on the plans for redevelopment and expansion so northsiders can get the proper treatment they deserve.

I thank the Deputy. I am happy to talk to him about the accident and emergency department in Beaumont Hospital. Following recent investments, there are a number of significant proposals for capital investment and all are progressing through the requisite design and planning stages. As a live hospital campus, it is more complex as things have to be moved where patients are being seen. The planning, sequencing and enabling of these projects are all being managed through the HSE capital development process, in line with the infrastructure guidelines. In May 2025, the new emergency department received the final grant of planning permission. The project was moved to a detailed design stage through 2025 and 2026 and this will inform a tender and market engagement process that will ultimately determine construction timelines. The project remains funded on the HSE capital plan. There is no question but that it is happening. Similarly, the 95-bed ward block is also progressing through the detailed design stage and, again, we will have a tender and market engagement for construction works. Separately, I am advised that the pre-tender business case for the radiation oncology unit was approved by the HSE just before Christmas. The first stage of that procurement process has been completed and we will have invitations to tender generally. I will make a few observations more broadly on the accident and emergency department experience in Beaumont Hospital, with respect to the Deputy's constituents. The trolley situation - the number of people who are admitted and are on trolleys - improved enormously in Beaumont Hospital over 2025. What has not improved is the patient experience time, PET. At the moment, Beaumont Hospital has the worst PET in the country. There are few different things. Beaumont Hospital has improved its trolley process. There is no question about that and it is to be commended on that because it involves the whole hospital moving patients through. However, there is a new CT machine in the hospital, for example, which was delivered last year. I was there on a Saturday morning in recent weeks. I visited four hospitals that morning. Beaumont Hospital was the one under the most pressure. When I was there, the emergency department was incredibly crowded. There were at least six or seven patients there who needed a CT. I then visited the CT machine that was sitting there, brand-new with its light off and no one working on it. I am assured by the region that we have provided funding for staffing it and that staffing it is an absolute priority but that is not okay.

Thank you, Minister.

It is contributing to PET, which is too long in Beaumont Hospital, twice what it should be. It is approximately eight hours; it should be four hours.

Thank you, Minister.

While trolley numbers have improved enormously in Beaumont Hospital, that needs to be improved and it is the next job for Beaumont Hospital.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Aontaím go hiomlán leí. Especially when the investment has gone in, there is a CT scanner and people are waiting, that needs to be looked at. In the words of Patricia Anderson, nothing can bring her husband back. However, she would love to see the delays in the emergency department and the ambulance system change. I thank the doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, porters, cleaners and administrative staff and the carers of north Dublin. Beaumont Hospital is one of the most important hospitals in Ireland for head injuries and its emergency department, as the Minister acknowledged, is under extreme strain. Communities across Coolock, Artane, Clontarf, Raheny, Donaghmede and beyond deserve more than what is currently being made available. Speaking of taking pressure off the hospital, staff of Northside Home Care Services, who are in the Public Gallery, are currently on strike looking for pay parity. During the recession, they were promised their situation would be sorted out in the deal. Now, they sadly are on strike. They do not take it lightly. However, if the HSE can pay for staff to cover, why can it not pay the correct amount to these men and women? Seven of these men and women from the Northside Home Care Services went into a homeless hub while working and they continue to help the men and women of north Dublin. Their situation needs to be sorted out. I thank them for everything they do for the people of north Dublin.

I will bring in Deputy Ó Muirí for a supplementary question.

I echo Deputy Heneghan's comments about Beaumont Hospital and thank him for raising it here. The Minister visited Beaumont Hospital with me recently. It is a workhorse hospital for the northside. Huge numbers of patients go through it. It has great staff, including great doctors, great nurses, great clinicians and great general staff but it is a hospital under pressure as the Minister saw. It is not just a local, workhorse hospital but it is a national centre for renal care and neuroscience. I heard Professor Arnold Hill talk about leading out on robotic brain surgery. A huge amount is going on in Beaumont Hospital and sometimes its staff are their own worst enemies. They do not tell people what they are doing or make people aware of all these expertise. I was delighted the Minister visited and saw it first hand. She made observations and I will be delighted to hear about them here. I look forward to that. I also mention the staff of Northside Home Care Services. I know two things. They do not want to be on strike, and there are vulnerable patients across the northside who are not getting care services because of this. I ask Government to knock heads together, whatever heads need to be knocked together, to see if we can get this resolved so those patients can get the care they need and these people can get back to work.

I thank the Deputies for that. This is the issue with Beaumont. It is an exceptional centre of clinical excellence. It is the place you want to be for neurology and it is a place that provides extraordinary renal treatment, but we have to look at the hospital as a whole. While it does extraordinary surgery and neurosurgery, when somebody like Mrs. Anderson's husband presents, he needs the care, the throughput and acute medical care as well. That requires a concentration of the emergency department on the patient experience time. That requires a concentration on diagnostics and using all the assets for patient safety as much as for neurosurgery. There is no question that Beaumont is the place I would want to be for any of those issues but as Minister for Health, I am as responsible for every patient that comes through and their experience in the emergency department and how long they are there as the investment in the extraordinary clinical research happening for the future. I am sorry, I only have ten seconds, but in respect of the Northside Home Care Services, I want to acknowledge people's presence here today. I have been informed of the extraordinary work done there. I have to o clarify for the House, it is not a public body as such. Terms and conditions are set by the organisation itself and it is a matter between the employer and employee. I can come back to that but it is not as straight forward as the HSE or a section 39 organisation issue that we might discuss.

Speaking to the current system in Beaumont and hospitals across Ireland, a lot of the time qualified healthcare staff are caught up in administrative roles when that could easily be automated. There are many things across the public sector that could be automated. We have systems now with generative AI, which can store data and automate systems to speed up the efficiency of these systems. Having people walking around with reports who are qualified and could be serving and helping with patients is not efficient. We can look at how China and Japan are currently dealing with their hospital systems. Deputy Ó Muirí and myself attended the launch of the report, and the current change in the systems for Beaumont will change and help lives. On the Northside Home Care Services, agreement was reached with the ICTU unions. They do the same work and carry the same responsibility except they are facing extreme emotional and physical demands. They want to get back to work. These men and women are facing discrimination. I appreciate the Minister said she would get back to myself and Deputy Ó Muirí. It is extremely purposeful.

To clarify, the Northside Home Care Services are funded through a separate tender arrangement. It is different; it is not HSE and section 39. The organisation is in receipt of small grant funding under section 39 in respect of meals on wheels but that is different. The HSE reached out to the Northside Home Care Services last week to remind them of the process for claiming an uplift in pay funding in respect of section 39 which it receives in respect of meals on wheels. However, beyond that, it is not a public sector body as such. In any dispute between an employer and employee, nobody wants the stress of going to work in those circumstances. Nobody wants to get to the point where they are initiating strike action, though they are entirely entitled to and I completely respect them doing that. I know they will want to get back to work as quickly as possible but I have to separate the organisations that are within the public service agreement and those that are not and that are tendered separately. We have a direct responsibility for some, while others are between employer and employee and are a tendered service to the HSE, which is different.

I thank the Minister for that. We only have time for one further question. I ask that the question be asked and then there will be a two-minute reply. Unfortunately, that is all we have time for.