13. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Health to provide a breakdown of all planned and approved capital works for Mallow General Hospital; the nature and scope of each project; the current stage each project is at, including planning, design, tender or construction; the expected timelines for delivery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4138/26]

Sentiment score: 0.15

I thank the Minister for taking this question. I am asking her to provide a breakdown of all planned and approved capital works for Mallow General Hospital, the nature and scope of each project, the current stage each project is at including planning, design, tender or construction, the expected timelines and the further use of the hospital.

Sentiment score: 0.39

I thank the Minister. That building was completed in 2020 during Covid times and, in fairness to the HSE, it has retrospectively applied for planning permission. It is a wonderful extension to Mallow General Hospital. The two floors that are currently open are providing excellent care to the people the hospital serves. The staff there are excellent and I take this opportunity to wish them all well in their endeavours over the next couple of months. It is great to see the 24-bed inpatient unit will be opened in quarter 1. It is hugely important that we try to get that opened as quickly as possible because the beds are needed in the north Cork area. I concur with the Minister about the bed use at the hospital. It is critical that we use the likes of Mallow General Hospital to relieve the pressure that is currently on Cork University Hospital, CUH, and Mercy University Hospital. I will be glad to work with the Minister on that over the coming months to make sure we get the best use out of the hospital.

Sentiment score: 0.49

I fully concur with the Minister that we do not see the full utilisation of Mallow General Hospital. I am glad she brought those figures to the House this morning, so we can discuss them in a public forum. I have been advocating for the further and better use of Mallow General Hospital for many years, in my roles as a councillor and, for the past 12 months, as a TD. I concur with the Minister. There is a lot of work to be done on utilising Mallow General Hospital beds and we need to work together to make sure they are used. We cannot have a system where we have overcrowding, people waiting for inpatient beds in CUH and Mercy University Hospital, while there are vacant beds in Mallow. Mallow General Hospital serves a huge area covering the border of Limerick, Kerry and Waterford and the metropolitan area of Cork city. Every patient I talk to who is waiting for a bed would go to Mallow for the care. We, therefore, need to work together to make sure it is utilised in the best way possible going forward.

Sentiment score: 0.35

Hear, hear.

Sentiment score: 0.00