In a significant milestone for healthcare in Ireland, the official commencement of the new Cystic Fibrosis In-Patient Unit was celebrated onsite at Beaumont Hospital last week. The unit, which will cost in the region of €20 million, has an anticipated opening date of October 2025.

Former local charity, CF Hope Source began campaigning for the unit twenty years ago. In that time, they joined forces with Cystic Fibrosis Ireland to undertake major advocacy and fundraising drives, raising a combined contribution of almost €1 million for the unit. 

The event was attended by representatives from Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, CF HopeSource, Beaumont Hospital Cystic Fibrosis specialist staff, including leading Cystic Fibrosis researcher Professor Ger McElvaney and Senior Respiratory Physician Professor Cedric Gunaratnam. Members of the construction and design team including Elliott Group and Scott Tallon Walker Architects were also present.

Sarah Tecklenborg, Interim CEO CFI commented “We are delighted to see the construction of the long awaited 20 room inpatient unit under way. A result of 20 years of collaborative effort and partnership between Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, CF HopeSource, CF clinical teams, Beaumont Hospital and the HSE. The unit will provide the highest standards of care and facilities for people living with CF now and into the future. CFI and the CF community are so grateful to everyone involved in making this build happen.” 

Beaumont Hospital is in the top three adult CF specialised units in the country, in terms of patient numbers and national importance to CF adult care. Until now, the hospital had a deficit in the number of specialist inpatient rooms available, compared with the total number of patients with CF attending. The new unit will have capacity to accommodate up to 160 people with CF and will allow for best practices in Cystic Fibrosis treatment.

Visiting the site, Maeve Mullin and Mary McLoughlin, Co-Founders of Hope Source commented, "Thank you to everyone who has contributed funds over the years to CF Hopesource and CF Ireland. Thanks also to everyone who has lobbied for the unit. To Beaumont Hospital for all their work, and to the CF team who work tirelessly for the CF community, and of course to Elliott Group and everybody involved in the design and construction for bringing this project to life.

“The future is bright with this unit. It will keep people will CF well and allow them to take advantage of new medicines and improvements in CF care that are in the pipeline."
The unit was first proposed following consultations with the team at Beaumont Hospital, Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, HopeSource Co-Founders Maeve Mullin and Mary McLoughlin, and patient representatives. Following a commitment from the then Health Minister Simon Harris to the project at that time, planning permission was sought in 2018. However, the project was significantly delayed in recent years by the COVID-19 Pandemic which suspended major building projects on the Beaumont campus.

Commencement of the Beaumont project is the latest project dedicated to CF Care campaigned for by CFI. In October 2023, building began on a new out-patient department at Merlin Park Hospital, Galway providing single consultation rooms and multidisciplinary team areas for people with CF. Due to be completed later this year, Cystic Fibrosis Ireland contributed €700,000 of the €3.5m total cost for this unit.

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