(September 30th 2025) A new pharmacy aseptic unit has opened in Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) following a €8.8 million capital investment from the HSE. This new, purpose-built Aseptic Unit, is a cutting-edge facility designed to deliver the highest standards in sterile medicine preparation.
The new facility has been constructed to meet Good Manufacturing Practice standards, ensuring the safe preparation of sterile products, including cancer treatments, clinical trials and other high-risk injectable medications. With the latest cleanroom technology, validated processes, and strict environmental controls, the aseptic unit will support both inpatient and outpatient services with reliable, high-quality, ready-to-administer medications.
The new facility is 200 square metres and four times the size of the original aseptic unit. It is located beside the main pharmacy. The unit features multiple cleanrooms with varying grades of sterility and is equipped with four isolators. A number of efficiencies have been introduced such as an Environmental Monitoring System and CCTV which means important checks to ensure the environment is sterile can be monitored electronically. This will ensure all of the drugs are produced to the very highest of standards.
Commenting on the opening of the new Aseptic Unit, TUH CEO, Barbara Keogh Dunne said, “This new facility is a major step forward for our Hospital. Trained specialist pharmaceutical technicians and pharmacists will manage production, quality assurance, and validation to ensure full compliance with standards and product integrity. This new cutting-edge facility which contains the latest technology has the potential to treat more patients and has been future-proofed for the introductions of robotics at a later stage.”
One of the key drivers of this exciting new project is Chief 2 Pharmacist & Aseptic Services Manager at TUH Louise Byrne. “This new aseptic unit represents our ongoing commitment to excellence in patient care and medication safety. It enables us to meet rising clinical demands, support complex therapies, and improve turnaround times, all the while following the highest sterility and quality standards. With this investment, we are future-proofing our pharmacy services and creating a more resilient and responsive infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of our patients.”
Other staff who have helped support the development of this important project at TUH include Deirdre Mooney, Aseptic Unit Team Leader and Niamh Cullen, Senior QA Pharmaceutical Technician. The Hospital’s Head of Pharmacy, John O‘Byrne and his predecessor, Tim Delaney. Other key players were the Deputy CEO, John Kelly; Head of Project Management in our Facilities Department, Seamus Foran, Brendan Redington HSE Estates Manager Quality & Standards, Chief Operations Officer (former), Shane Russell, Operations Project Manager, Sean Humphreys along with the entire team in the Aseptic Unit itself.
