Still no locations or business plans for new elective hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin
Fine Gael spokesman on Health Colm Burke said there are “major problems” with hospital overcrowding in Cork, Limerick and Waterford which an elective hospital could address.
Business plans for elective hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin have not yet been reviewed by the Government, while sites have also not been selected, some nine months after a Sláintecare plan laid out a construction timetable.
The Sláintecare Implementation Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2023, published in May last year, said construction work would be underway on these sites before the end of next year. This would include having completed finalising the sites, getting planning permission, and going through fire certificate and tender stages, the plan said.
“Individual Preliminary Business Cases for each location are at an advanced stage of development and will be subject to technical review by the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform,” a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said.
If this review is positive "further memoranda for Government would then be brought forward to progress this proposal for Cork, Galway and Dublin”, she added.
In 2019, the Elective Hospitals Oversight Group, led by Professor Frank Keane, began working on a plan to move elective treatment out of hospitals like Cork University Hospital. These operations are often cancelled when high numbers of patients needing emergency care are admitted.
Medical sources have indicated in the Cork situation there is a growing preference to locate the hospital on the campus of St Stephen’s Hospital in Glanmire, but there is resistance to this due to its distance from CUH in Bishopstown.
Fine Gael spokesman on Health Colm Burke said there are “major problems” with hospital overcrowding in Cork, Limerick and Waterford which an elective hospital could address.
“Even if they pick a site in the morning, it would be 18 months before there is a sod turned. That is the real world,” he said.
Based on previous State-funded builds, he estimated the tender process could take four months, then six to eight months for the design process, followed by six months for planning.
Mr Burke said he would welcome having an elective hospital in Glanmire as it is minutes from the M8 motorway.
“Sarsfield Court has the ability to deliver care to all of Munster, my understanding is that Sarsfield Court is the HSE’s preferred option,” he said.
Former Sláintecare chief executive Laura Magahy told the health committee last year these hospitals would “help drive down waiting lists, reduce cancellations and reduce acute hospital footfall.”
In Galway, chief executive of the Saolta University Health Care Group, Tony Canavan, has frequently highlighted problems caused by surges in emergency care.
The site for the new Children’s Hospital in Dublin was confirmed in 2012 but construction is ongoing with doubts having arisen recently over a planned 2024 completion date.
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