September the earliest for Waterford mobile cath lab to be in place

It will be September at the earliest before an office-hours-only mobile catheterisation lab is in place at University Hospital Waterford (UHW), where almost 600 patients are awaiting cath procedures (a procedure used to diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions).

While an agreement to provide the mobile lab was reached last January, the HSE will only start the tender process next week. Ger O’Callaghan, the chief operations officer for the South/South West Hospital Group, said the process “should take eight to 10 weeks”, with the expectation that the cath lab would be up and running “by September or October”.

However, it will operate 9am-5pm only and not at all at weekends. In fact, it is yet to be decided the number of days a week the lab will open. Mr O’Callaghan said the objective is to try to clear the waiting list — not to offer an out-of-hours service.