Major revamp for Cavan Hospital
BOOST €500k spent on recent developments and reconfiguration
Ongoing investment in developing services at Cavan General Hospital is part of a much larger capital project, plans for which are being finalised, The Anglo-Celt can reveal.
A significant new-build element is understood to be in the pipeline. It follows other developments in recent months such as the leasing of the ‘Breffni Building’, the former Jackson’s Garage building on Farnham Street in Cavan Town, which is being used to accommodate Antenatal and Paediatric outpatient clinics. This move is viewed as crucial in facilitating delivery of the overall plan.
Last week the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, confirmed to local Fianna Fáil TDs, Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth, that financial provision has been made in the 2021 Capital Plan for the Department of Health to upgrade the Emergency Department at CGH.
That investment will see the ED reconfigured and additional resuscitation bays provided; while the move by Antenatal and Paediatric OPD into the centre of town will see that vacated space incorporated into the new and substantially expanded emergency treatment unit.
Last year, in response to the Covid crisis, CGH oversaw the conversion of the then medical records building into a new purpose-fitted Oncology department.
The former oncology area was then repurposed into a new in-patient acute ward with a new entrance away from the main footfall of the hospital created, along with a lobby, reception area and additional treatment bays.
The medical records section was subsequently relocated to the decommissioned former laundery building on site.
Meanwhile, HSE Estates and the RCSI, under whose umbrella CGH operates, are working with Dublin-based architects RKD on a design to develop a new Endoscopy Unit, complete with 18 additional beds, that includes a direct linkage to the hospital’s emergency department.
It is expected that, once finalised, an application will then be made to the planning section of Cavan County Council in the hope of progressing the build some time in 2022.
The Anglo-Celt understands a number of “working groups” have been established within the hospital to oversee the progression of the various infrastructural elements being delivered, all of which will dovetail to facilitate a much larger investment on site in the coming years.
“I welcome the confirmation by Minister Donnelly of this funding towards this essential upgrading of existing accommodation and provision of new accommodation and I had continually raised with the Department, with the HSE and also through Parliamentary Questions and in other health debates in Dáil Éireann the need to progress these projects,” said Deputy Smith of the recent announcement.
His party colleague, Deputy Smyth noted: “Cavan General Hospital provides not only for the people of Cavan but for the entire border region and I would like to thank the manager of Cavan General Hospital, Mr David Lynch, for his perseverance and drive to ensure the expansion and development of our hospital that provides a way range of services and has been crucial during this global pandemic to deliver first class care to patients in the border region.”
She went on to say: “Our entire health service has been through the most difficult 16 months and are still under severe pressure with the ongoing pandemic.
“As we come out the other side of what has been a most gruelling period, where so much has been asked of our health services, I’m glad to see continued Government investment and I will continue, as a local TD, to push for further investment in the region.”
Monaghan developments
Also within the region, construction began earlier this year to deliver a new multi-million euro primary care centre in Monaghan Town on the HSE-owned St Davnet’s site.
The long-awaited project has been dogged by a myriad of delays since it was first announced more than a decade ago. The centre was first planned for a site adjacent to Monaghan Hospital, but constraints on planning meant the project could not progress as initially envisaged.
Last year the HSE opened the extended Oriel House at St Davnet’s Hospital, which provides 15 continuing care beds transferred from the former Blackwater House building.
The former Blackwater House building will now be refurbished to house primary care facility, which is expected to cost in the region of €7M.
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