The new wing comprises 98 new beds, including 16 new intensive care unit beds and a new home for the National Isolation Unit, which is based at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.
In the early part of the response to Covid-19, the lack of beds - particularly within intensive care facilities and appropriate single bedded rooms - was identified as an issue facing many acute hospitals.
The vision for this project from the outset was to deliver additional capacity of beds and specifically ICU beds into the public system as quickly as possible. This building was to be designed as an infections disease hospital, capable of operating independently from the main hospital, and the facility to lock down wards to prevent the spread of highly infectious diseases.