Upgrade work begins on Portlaoise hospital department vital to Covid-19 fight

Laboratory facilities at Portlaoise hospital are set to be upgraded as part of construction work which has just got underway.

The HSE's Dublin Midlands Hospital Group has confirmed that the capital development underway at the front of the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise involves an expansion of lab facilities with new to buildings added. It says the project includes the reconfiguration and extension of the existing laboratory and associated works. A spokesperson added It also involves the relocation of Medical Secretariat accommodation.

"The laboratory reconfiguration project will be a combination of concrete build and modular build. The main extension to the front of the existing laboratory will be a concrete build. The relocation of other office accommodation to facilitate this extension will be provided by way of modular construction," said a statement.

Heretofore, lab services have been located in ageing prefab accommodation facing onto the Dublin Road. Lab staff have played a key role in hospital's response to the coronavirus pandemic with testing of swabs carried out on site.

The project is one of a number of new capital developments in the works for the Laois hospital. The HSE has invited bids for builders to convert a former Chapel to office accommodation. Meanwhile, Laois County Council has also granted permission for a phased expansion of car parking for staff, patients and visitors.

The hospital has undergone expansion and reconfiguration in recent years. An Acute Medical Assessment Unit went into operation last year while a key link corridor was built to link it with the Emergency Department.

More recently, work was carried out internally to facilitate changes required by the Covid-19 outbreak. This included the relocation and expansion of the intensive care unit.