The government has this morning signed off on the site for a new elective hospital in Galway, along with developing a surgical hub.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly received government approval to progress to the planning phase of a new elective hospital at Merlin Park in Galway.
The Galway centre, with a planned eight operating theatres, seven endoscopy suites and nine minor operation rooms, is forecast to provide 175,000 additional procedures, treatments and diagnostic appointments per year.
This is one of three national elective hospitals the government is planning to build, with the others to be located in Cork and Dublin.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said, “I am delighted that Government has approved our plans for the Elective Care Programme and in particular for the sites at Cork and Galway.”
“The development of these facilities represents a major change in how we’ll deliver quality care based on future demand. By separating elective from emergency care, we will be able to deliver better care and outcomes for all patients.”
“These new Elective Hospitals will have a real impact on people up and down the country and I am keen that they are up and running as soon as possible.”
“For this reason, I will work with colleagues across Government to consider options to expedite their delivery wherever possible.”
The Elective Hospitals will be focused on providing Day case, GI Endoscopy, minor operations, outpatient treatment and outpatient diagnostics services.
The Cork hospital will be built at at St Stephen’s Hospital, Sarsfield Court, while a site for the Dublin hospital will be chosen once its business case has been approved.
The HSE is also progressing plans for five ‘Surgical Hubs’ in Galway Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Dublin.
These are meant to be shorter term measures to address a backlog of surgeries, based on on the Reeves Centre at Tallaght University Hospital.
Minister Donnelly said that they will “quickly deliver elective care complementary to the electives programme” when up and running.
The surgical hubs will be located either on the site of existing hospitals, or in buildings close to them.
It is expected that the total cost of developing these surgical hubs will run to the area of 90-100 million euro.
