Offaly County Council has granted planning permission for a £100 million hospital in Tullamore. The hospital is a major element in the Midland Health Board's development of acute hospital services and will include a cancer unit and renal dialysis which were not previously available in the board's area.
The planning permission comes at a time when there is mounting concern over waiting lists, a lack of bed space and delays in casualty at the existing Tullamore General Hospital. Last January, members of the county council sought a meeting with the health board to discuss facilities at the hospital.
It is now hoped that work on the new hospital, which will be built beside the existing Arden Road hospital, will get under way this year. However, the Department of Health said that while tendering would now probably take place in the autumn, it could not estimate a completion date at this stage.
A spokeswoman said the £100 million included fitting out and construction charges.
The hospital is to be financed under the National Development Plan 20002006.
The original hospital in Tullamore was built in 1937, designed by architect Michael Scott. While buildings were added and services improved over the years, the new development is described as a completely new hospital, not an extension of the existing facility.
Once the new hospital comes on stream, the "Scott building" is to become the headquarters of the health board.
The health board has concentrated inpatient obstetric, gynaecology and paediatric services for Cos Laois and Offaly at Portlaoise General Hospital. There is a policy of providing orthopaedics and ophthalmology at Tullamore and a third hospital, the Mullingar General, should serve the acute hospital needs of Longford-Westmeath.
Under the new development programme which includes the new hospital at Tullamore, both Mullingar and Portlaoise hospitals are also to be expanded. Approval has been received for the acceptance of tenders for extensions to Portlaoise, while it is expected that final approval for "Phase 2B" of Mullingar General is expected within weeks.
Included in Phase 2B at Mullingar are an operating department, general medical ward, isolation facilities and a pathology department. It will also include an acute psychiatric department, a palliative care unit and a day-surgical unit which were not part of the original scheme but which have now been added.
Additional units for which funding is currently being sought include a rehabilitation department, child and adolescent psychiatry, occupational therapy and non-surgical day services.