THERE IS STILL no definite date for the resumption of work on a new emergency department at Letterkenny General Hospital, which has been stalled for more than seven months since the construction company involved in the project went into receivership.
Minister of State at the Department of Health, Róisín Shortall, told the Dáil the delay was a result of the legal complexities of the receivership process.
“The HSE is doing its best to expedite matters,” she said.
According to the HSE, work on the €22 million extension to Letterkenny hospital, which includes a new emergency department and medical assessment unit, commended in February 2009, was almost complete when Michael McNamara Co was put into receivership last November.
Raising the issue in the Dáil last week, the Donegal North East Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said the project should have been completed by spring this year, “but we now understand from the management of Letterkenny General Hospital that it will not be completed until spring 2012”.
He said it was time for the Government to intervene urgently to sort out the mess as staff at the hospital were at breaking point dealing with patients on trolleys, and the problem was spilling over into the hospital’s coffee dock.
Ms Shortall said the contract contained an insurance bond and the HSE and its legal advisers were working with the insurer or bondsman to ensure the completion of the development.
“In accordance with the terms of the bond, the insurer is entitled to nominate a contractor who will complete the project to the satisfaction of the HSE,” she said.
The executive was waiting for the insurer to do this, she added.
Michael McNamara Co was also involved in delays with another hospital project last year, this time the commencement of work on a new unit for cystic fibrosis patients at Dublin’s St Vincent’s Hospital.
After being awarded the contract to build the facility, it had difficulty getting financial backing to proceed with the project and the hospital had to get a different contractor. Work on that unit has since begun.