QUESTION NO: 592

DAIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Health (Dr. James Reilly) by Deputy
Finian McGrath

for WRITTEN ANSWER on 25/10/2011

* To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the cystic fibrosis unit at Beaumont Hospital
(details supplied). Finian McGrath T.D.

REPLY.

Beaumont Hospital is one of the 6 specialist centres that provides services to adults with cystic fibrosis. In the 2008 Budget, a special allocation of €2.5m capital funding was provided to enable the hospital to provide facilities for ambulatory care of people with cystic fibrosis. This new facility opened on 26th October 2010 and provides a significantly enhanced service to adult patients with CF.

This enabled the provision of the new dedicated Outpatient facility for patients with CF. This Unit facilitates a comprehensive range of services from the multidisciplinary teams. These services include outpatient clinics, a drop in centre/base for clinical assessments with medical consultants and nurses, and the provision of treatments that otherwise may have required hospitalisation.

The new consultation and treatment rooms have an air filtration system which facilitates 12 air changes per hour, approximately three times the average rate in a normal room. This reduces the time needed between patients for the purposes of infection control.

At present there are four dedicated en-suite isolation rooms for the CF Service in Beaumont Hospital. The CEO, Beaumont Hospital, is aware of the requirement to increase capacity and is committed to identifying the additional facilities and resources required to meet the increased demand. With priority access to a number of en-suite inpatient rooms, the need for an adult with CF being admitted as an inpatient via the Emergency Department is now a rare occurrence.

The Deputy will also be aware of the development of the new 100 bed Unit being built at St Vincent's Hospital which encompasses both in-patient and day care facilities for patients with Cystic Fibrosis. It represents a major improvement in the care of Cystic Fibrosis patients in Ireland. The development at the hospital will provide a state of the art clinical building which will include up to date isolation facilities with accommodation for people with cystic fibrosis.

This 100 inpatient bed unit (in single en-suite rooms) will accommodate the needs of patients with cystic fibrosis and many other patients whose medical requirements necessitate single en suite facilities. One ward (20 beds) in the new Unit will be dedicated for use by cystic fibrosis patients. Twenty per cent of the beds on each of the 5 wards will be isolation rooms. This represents best practice in terms of infection control. It will also provide 10 single day treatment rooms with en-suite sanitary facilities.

The Government is acutely aware of the challenges that people with cystic fibrosis and their families face in managing their condition and fully acknowledges the need for and support the provision of dedicated accommodation in an environment which allows appropriate isolation for improved infection control. The Government supports the continued roll-out of regional services for patients with cystic fibrosis.