Hospital projects

An evolving campus to support evolving healthcare

We cherish our heritage and the history of our building. But we also embrace the future. As service need changes, our facilities have continued to evolve in response. Below are some examples of recent and ongoing projects to develop and enhance our campus to better serve the needs of our patients and community.

The Rock Wing

The Rock Wing has been designed, built and delivered on budget in two years under emergency legislation enacted during the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early part of the response to Covid-19, the lack of bed capacity, particularly intensive care facilities and appropriate single bedded rooms, was identified as an issue facing many acute hospitals.

This Nine storey building was built in two years and will cater for an extra 5,000 patients annually including major trauma patients.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly officially opened the Rock Wing in  April 2023.  The new wing comprises 98 new beds, including 16 new critical care unit beds and a new home for the National High Level Isolation Unit.

State of the art acute hospital service

• Level 6 - 20 Infectious Diseases beds
• Level 5 - 20 Respiratory beds
• Level 4 - 20 COVID-19 pathway and Infectious Disease beds
• Level 3 - 16 Critical care beds
• Level 2 - 20 Trauma beds
• Level 1 – New Hospital Reception at Eccles Street entrance, multi-faith and reflective spaces, offices and multi-disciplinary team meeting rooms, Consultant and NCHD hubs, post room and nursing bank office.
• Level -0 - Planned location for the new National Isolation Unit (NIU)

Major Trauma Centre (MTC)

In 2021 the Mater Hospital was designated as the Major Trauma Centre (MTC ) for the Central Trauma Network following a competitive process. The MTC will play an integral role in the National Trauma System for Ireland as this matures over the next 10 years.

As part of this project, the Mater Hospital are currently in the design stage of a purpose built Major Trauma Centre on site to support this developing service in a phased approach.

The Whitty Wing

This development provides the Mater Hospital with significant additional capacity to service growing patient needs and reduce waiting times, as well as improving the physical environment and experience of using the hospital for everyone. The building provides a sustainable, uplifting, healing environment for the delivery of modern healthcare.

State of the art acute hospital services

The new Whitty Wing led to the consolidation of many inpatient services in state-of-the-art facilities. It resulted in 55,000m2 of new acute hospital services, which includes:

• 12 new operating theatres
• 134 single en-suite rooms
• Emergency and outpatients departments
• National Spinal Injuries Unit
• Cardiothoracic High Dependency Unit
• Radiology department
• GI unit
• Intensive Care and High Dependency Unit

A quality healthcare environment

The new building demonstrates the highest commitment to a quality healthcare environment, in terms of design and sustainability.The building breaks new ground by providing 100% of the 134 new inpatient beds as en-suite single rooms, resulting in reduced risk of hospital acquired infections, shorter stays and enhanced patient privacy and dignity.

The Carney Oncology Haematology Day Unit

In January 2015, The Carney Oncology Haematology Day Unit was opened on Level 7 of the Whitty Wing. The new facility provides:

• 20 treatment couches
• Five triage/assessment spaces
• Single ensuite treatment room
• Single cubicle
• Two consulting rooms

The new unit is named after three generations of a family of Mater doctors.

“My colleague, Professor Des Carney, was the first appointed medical oncologist in north Dublin. From where he started, three decades ago, to where we are today – a wonderful place to work - is a tribute to his drive and vision.”
Professor John McCaffrey, Director of the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the Mater Hospital.

The new day unit serves as another step in enhancing our services to our oncology and haematology patients. In 2013, the a new inpatient haematology-oncology clinical facility was launched which provided 33 hepa-filtered single en-suite rooms. This facility greatly increases capacity to treat patients with cutting edge therapies.

Ophthalmology services refurbishment programme

In February 2016, the first phase of an ophthalmology outpatient services refurbishment programme opened with the relocation of the Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment (DRT) Service. Future plans include:

• The development of new ophthalmology outpatient clinics and diagnostic services - this is presently at the design stage.
• Relocation of the Eye Emergency Department to a new facility in June 2016. This new facility will provide:
  • 7 clinical examination Rooms
  • Diagnostics
  • Triage
  • Treatment
  • Waiting rooms
  • Reception / registration
  • Staff facilities