Work begins on NRH in Dún Laoghaire

BUILDING work has started at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire to replace the existing 120 wards with a new fit for purpose block of single ensuite rooms.

 New integrated therapy spaces, a sports hall and hydrotherapy unit will also be provided as part of phase one of the redevelopment of the hospital. 

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attended the recent groundbreaking ceremony to launch the first phase of the construction project. Speaking at the event, he said that the new purpose-built rehabilitation hospital would provide a patient-centred approach to help deliver the best possible outcomes for those who attend.

He said: “It will also provide the staff of the hospital with an excellent facility within which to continue their work; work which is so critical to the lives of people with neurological conditions and their families and carers.”

 Local Independent senator Victor Boyhan, who also attended the event, welcomed the Government’s investment in the National Rehabilitation Hospital.

He said: “It is important that funding for phase two of the redevelopment plan for the hospital is identified and provided for in the Governments capital programme for 2018.”

 “In the short-term I will continue to campaign for the reopening of all the 12 hospital beds which were closed in January 2017 due to cutbacks.”

 Senator Boyhan said it was unacceptable that patients waiting for specialised rehabilitation services were “trapped” in acute hospital beds for months when they should be in the NRH. 

“The Minister for Health has confirmed to me that two of the 12 beds have been reopened and that two more will be open soon,” he added. “No date has been agreed for the reopening of the remaining eight beds this year, which is scandalous considering the lengthy waiting times and the substantial number of patients waiting for intense therapies at the NRH.”