Healthcare Infrastructure Provision

91. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Health for an update on the proposed new emergency department at Beaumont Hospital; the current status of the project; the funding allocated to date; and the anticipated timeline for the commencement and completion of construction. [72629/26]

Beaumont Hospital is a vital facility that serves the constituents of Dublin Bay North but also constituencies right across the northside of Dublin and beyond. I regularly have constituents getting in touch with me to describe their experiences in the emergency department. The staff in the emergency department at Beaumont Hospital are doing their utmost to provide care in extremely challenging circumstances. However, the ongoing pressure on the existing emergency department is evident. I have had cause to be in the department on a number of occasions with family members, and to describe it as a war zone would not be an exaggeration. Nobody wants to have to go to the accident and emergency department but when they do, the least they deserve is to have some sort of comfort and access to timely care.

It is important to acknowledge the enormous progress that has happened in the past 12 months in the emergency department at Beaumont. It is very significant. It has reduced the number of people on trolleys by an impressive 33% compared with 2024, despite having an increase in presentations. That is down to the different way the staff are working. I pay tribute to them for it. An additional CT machine was put in Beaumont, as the Deputy is aware. I visited the hospital one Saturday morning to find that the CT was not working, the lights were off and there was nobody there. That has since been staffed to make sure that patients in the emergency department have quick access to that CT scanner, as well as everything else. It is another positive step forward in 2026 in Beaumont. Beaumont has planned a number of significant capital developments and, as with every hospital, those developments have to be carefully sequenced to protect clinical activity. Basically, this means that not everything can be done on a hospital campus at the same time because the hospital could not continue to be a hospital in that case. In every hospital, whether it is Galway or Beaumont, this has to be done in a sequential and logical way because it disrupts patient care when people have to move somewhere else. Beaumont has prioritised clearly. The first priority is an extension to the radiation oncology centre. Enabling works are well under way and the main construction will commence in 2027. Beaumont prioritises the new inpatient bed block, which will increase bed capacity and help reduce pressure generally on the hospital. A proposed new emergency department will follow the bed block. That is the sequence of importance that Beaumont identifies. I acknowledge how much Beaumont has improved with respect to the number of people waiting on trolleys. The hospital has increased its weekend discharges. Its patient experience time is too high. The hospital knows that and will work on it. I have had a commitment from the chair and I know the new CEO will have a serious focus on that. Beaumont has reduced the use of trolleys and has the CT scanner working for the benefit of patients. Those things are very important.

I thank the Minister for the update. I am aware that €24 million has been set aside for improvements to the emergency department, which is welcome. Unfortunately, I am not seeing dates, deadlines or an indication of when delivery will happen. All I am hearing, unfortunately, is obfuscation as regards the priorities the Minister indicated.

I do not know how it is obfuscation. Let me give the Deputy a one, two, three instead. Number one is the radiation oncology centre, number two is the inpatient bed block and number three is the emergency department. That order is identified as a priority by Beaumont, not me. The hospital chose that order of priority. The Deputy will be aware that planning approval was granted in 2026 for the refurbishment of the existing emergency department. That will provide short-term additional capacity for the emergency department, which is an interim measure. The order of priority is radiation oncology, followed by the inpatient bed block and then the proposed new emergency departments, with additional emergency capacity to be provided in a modular way in the meantime. I hope that provides clarity for the Deputy. I reiterate that these are the priorities identified by the hospital.

Anyone who goes into the emergency department will see people crammed into it, with medical staff trying to work around them, in particular elderly, vulnerable people who are approaching the end of their lives in fear. They need space, comfort and dignity. I urge the Minister to impose on the hospital prioritisation of the emergency department above the other two priorities indicated by the hospital.

This is the order the hospital has identified as being important to it for patient flow. Would the Deputy like me to override the hospital's priorities and its analysis of what it needs?

Yes.

The emergency department performance has improved considerably over the last 18 months. When I was there on a Saturday morning, I saw 60 to 70 people who needed care. Six or seven of those would have been able to be let go with a CT scan. A decision could have been made to do so but the scanner was not working. The hospital now has it working. The performance in the emergency department has improved, although patient experience times are too long. I anticipate that the hospital will be able to make further progress. The hospital knows what it needs. It has worked with the region and with us. It identifies its priorities, as every other hospital does. An interim measure is being provided for the emergency department but none of that matters unless the hospital changes the way it works and changes how things are tried. The hospital has made good progress on that in the last 18 months. It is one of the hospitals that does not have trolley problems, unlike CUH, which was referred to earlier. Beaumont has been consistently good. There might be a day or two where it is bad for a particular reason, but the hospital always recovers well. Its patient experience times are still too long.