€20 million contract finally awarded for the renal unit
By Mary Dennehy
THE contract has finally been awarded for a new €20m renal unit at Tallaght University Hospital, which will enhance patient care and ratify the hospital’s position as the second largest provider of haemodialysis in the country.
In February of this year, the HSE was accused of reneging on a capital funding commitment given to Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) for the development of the new unit, which was due to start in January 2018.
An artist impression of the €20 million renal unit planned for Tallaght University Hospital
In a statement to The Echo at the time, the HSE said that it was “committed” to funding the development, which had a rescheduled start date of late 2018 or early 2019.
Fast forward nine months and the awarding of the contact has this week been announced.
The original estimated cost of the new, two-storey renal building on the hospital campus was around €15m.
However, the revised cost confirmed to The Echo last week is €19.8m.
Tallaght University Hospital is the regional, renal centre of excellence for the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, which includes Tallaght, St James’s, Naas General Hospital, Tullamore, Portlaoise, St Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network and the Coombe.
When contacted by The Echo, a spokesperson for the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group welcomed the “critical decision”, which will enhance the experience of care for the growing number of patients who attend the hospital for renal dialysis.
“The new unit will increase capacity and further develop the model of care, with a particular emphasis on home and self-care,” the spokesperson said.
“This is a strong vote of confidence in the TUH Management Team and its Renal Department [and] will further enable the hospital to manage its ongoing increase in service demand.”
Due to a growing number of patients and a lack of capacity, Tallaght University Hospital last year spent more than €5m paying for its patients to have dialysis done privately due to a lack of capacity at its own unit.
According to Dublin South West TD, Sean Crowe (Sinn Fein): “Dialysis activity at Tallaght Hospital has increased to more than 30,000 dialysis treatments per year, but it only has a designed capacity for 9,000 treatments a year.
“The remainder are delivered in satellite dialysis units. This is private, costly, and represents an unacceptable clinical risk to many of the patients.
“Additionally, according to the Midlands Hospital group, there is also a critical shortage of capacity to deliver high dependency dialysis in the region, and they are relying on the use of expensive private providers as well.”
While welcoming news that the contract has been awarded, Deputy Crowe said: “We have been let down before.
“We know that a delay doesn’t make any financial sense.
“There is also a growing medical need and continued delays in building this new unit is putting lives at risk.
“We need assurances on the Dáil record that it is going ahead.”
Announcing the contract, Dublin South West TD, Colm Brophy (Fine Gael) said: “My Fine Gael colleague, Minister for Health Simon Harris, has informed me that the contract was approved for this long-awaited project by the HSE.
“The unit has been operating at full capacity and there was no scope to increase the capacity in the unit because of infrastructure issues.
“I am very well aware of the distress this overcrowded dialysis unit has caused patients and staff and I am delighted that the wheels are now in motion for a brand new facility.”
Deputy Brophy added: “In the interim, I am hoping to secure funding to enable the hospital to outsource additional haemodialysis sessions to satellite dialysis units.”
