€10m upgrade prescribed for Ennis hospital

AFTER a series of false dawns over the past decade, Health Minister Mary Harney has finally sanctioned a long-awaited €10 million upgrading of Mid-Western Hospital, Ennis, The Clare Champion can exclusively reveal.

Ministerial approval for the 2010 Health Service Executive (HSE) Capital Works Programme paves the way for preparatory work to start on the provision of a new 50 inpatient block at the Ennis hospital.
Construction work is expected to start this autumn, which includes the provision of a €2.5m endoscopy suite and 50 replacement single ensuite beds on the ground and first floors. All the beds will be designed to meet the highest SARI infection control standards, to minimise the risk of hospital-acquired infections.
The cost of providing the new beds is estimated at €5.5m and when all equipment and other associated costs are taken into the account, the whole project will cost in the region of €10m.
Newly-appointed Ennis hospital manager, Frank Keane told The Clare Champion that staff at the hospital viewed the upgrade as the initial step in strategic development of the hospital as an integral part of health care provision in the Mid-West.
The Clare Champion has learned a planning application for the new endoscopy suit was submitted to the planning authority last week and a separate application for the 50-bed unit over two floors should be lodged within the next two weeks.
This new investment package is in addition to €250,000 spent on orthopaedic equipment, €86,000 for urology equipment and follows the provision of a €1.2 million building to accommodate the CAT scanner.
Deputy Timmy Dooley admitted the investment is a long time coming but said the money is now approved and assigned to the project.
“The battle to secure the funding for these two projects amounting to in excess of €10m has been hard fought for especially during the current economic downturn,” he noted.