A new medical block in Letterkenny General Hospital is on schedule for completion later this year, it has been confirmed.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has said the €22m, four-storey building, located behind the existing hospital, is expected to be completed by early December and ready for occupancy in early 2011.

The 6,600 square metre building will house a new emergency department and medical assessment unit on the ground floor, and three floors of wards with 24 beds in each.

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Construction has also begun on the nearly 1,800-square-metre mental health building, which is beginning to rise from a site near the new medical building.

The €6m mental health project, which will accommodate 34 patients, is expected to open in March 2011.

The new medical building will replace some of the oldest medical wards in the hospital. Sean Murphy, General Manager of Letterkenny General, said the hospital is also undertaking a €250,000 long-term planning study to review existing hospital facilities in order to "identify what has got a long-term future and what needs replacement".

(NS/BMcC)