Construction BUSINESS

The National Rehabilitation Hospital is the first major healthcare project to be granted planning approval through the Strategic Infrastructural Development Process.

The approval is for Phase One of a significant capital development on the campus of the existing hospital at Rochestown Avenue.  This development, which is a partnership between the HSE and the NRH Foundation, will see the existing ward accommodation at the NRH replaced by a new 120 bed facility including integrated therapy services.  The facility will be purpose built, specifically to accommodate the needs of patients requiring complex specialist rehabilitation services and will comply with best international practice and SARI guidelines.

NRH Chairman, Mr Kieran Fleck welcomed the development by stating “We look forward to having a world class building designed to meet the needs of all our patients in terms of receiving the best quality care and treatment in a facility which affords dignity, respect and privacy to all.  It will be a major enhancement to rehabilitation services in the country and will have a direct and significant impact on patient recovery by providing an optimal ward and therapeutic environment for their treatment in the NRH.”

Mr Fleck added “This major milestone could not have been achieved without the support, dedication and commitment of the staff at NRH who have played an integral part in the New Hospital project.  Staff of all grades from across the hospital have worked tirelessly with NRH Health Planning Team and the appointed Design Team, in partnership with the HSE, to ensure the building is purpose designed to enable staff to meet the individual needs of our patients”.

In May 2012, in jointly announcing this development with the Minister for Health at that time, Dr James Reilly, the then Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore said  ‘The National Rehabilitation Hospital is a landmark institution.  It is part of our history and, with this major redevelopment of the 120 bed facility; it marks a new phase in our future – a future where health services are built around the needs of patients, at every stage of their rehabilitation and recovery.  The development of a world class rehabilitation hospital for Ireland has a key role in this objective, and it is a statement of our values, even in these straitened times.’

An architect led Design Feasibility Study has been completed on behalf of the HSE which demonstrates that the hospital can continue to provide the existing level of services at all times during the redevelopment. http://www.nrh.ie/

Irish Building Magazine.