Private health operator, the Mater Private Network has lodged multimillion euro plans that will deliver a five floor extension to the Mater Private Hospital in central Dublin.
The expansion of services at the flagship Mater Private hospital at Eccles Street and Dorset Street Lower in Dublin 7 will provide an additional 190 staff.
In total, the Mater Private Network – described in planning documentation as the country’s leading private provider of high acuity complex care – has 2,500 employees and 300 consultants, and every year performs over 320,000 test, treatments, and procedures, with the majority of people and services taking place at the Eccles Street hospital site
The planning application lodged with Dublin City Council is seeking to expand emergency department and urgent care centre; new operating theatres; new laboratory and new ambulatory medical services and a new ICU department
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The scheme also proposes a change of use 106, 107 and 108 Dorset Street Lower from vacant residential and medical consulting/office use to hospital use.
Síne Kelly, associate Director at Tom Phillips + Associates, told the council in a planning report that the extension will “provide additional capacity and ease pressure on the public healthcare system and reduce waiting times at the Mater Private Hospital”.
Ms Kelly said the proposal includes a net additional 22 in-patient beds, as well as 16 re-provided bed spaces to total in 38 in-patient beds in the proposed development.
Mater Private’s strategic plan looks to consolidate its high acuity services in its Eccles Street hospital, with a decant of low acuity services to peripheral satellite settings, she added.
Doing that requires the provision of additional operating rooms and extension of the intensive care units in the Eccles Street campus while improving access for unscheduled care to a private high acuity hospital, Ms Kelly added.
Ms Kelly states that the proposal “will contribute to the continued development of a world-class healthcare hub in the north City Centre by providing essential additional capacity, whilst improving the existing streetscape and bringing back into viable use three existing buildings.
The scheme has been designed by Farrow Partners and MCA Architects and an architectural design statement lodged with the application states that the redevelopment “will serve as a catalyst for wider urban renewal and will enhance the experience of patients, staff, and the greater community”.
The report notes “the project strengthens the vitality of this important district in Dublin and supports the continued evolution of Mater Private Network as a trusted, nationally recognised centre of care”.
