Construction for Cork elective hospital might not start until 2027, warns TD

Fine Gael's Colm Burke queried the timeline for tender and construction

Colm Burke  described the pace of work on the plan as 'disappointing' for patients, particularly in light of population growth in the region.

The timeline for building an elective hospital in Cork could mean construction only starting by 2027 instead of completion in that year as projected, a Cork Fine Gael TD has warned.

The Department of Health said this week a tender process for a design team will be conducted in early 2024. 

It is expected the team will be chosen and confirmed by the end of June.

“Current targets are for construction to commence in 2026 and to be completed in 2027,” a spokesman said.

Once construction is complete, then the hospital would have to be equipped and staffed before patients can be treated there.

However, Colm Burke said it is not clear why the timeline is being laid out like this.

“The tender is to appoint a team to design. I was previously told the design team will be appointed by the end of January and now it is the end of June,” he said.

“Why does it take six months to appoint a team?” 

He warned: "The design will take 12 months, and planning could take two years. 

"At this rate we will be lucky to start building by June 2027.” 

He described the pace of work on this plan as “disappointing” for patients, particularly in light of population growth in the region.

“There is an urgent need for these facilities to be built, and to be used at their full capacity,” he said.

He recalled the pressures facing Cork hospitals last January, saying it was almost impossible to get a bed for non-emergency care. 

A similar hospital is to be built at Merlin Park in Galway, and in Dublin although that site is not yet chosen. 

Elective hospitals do not have emergency departments, so they avoid the pressures and cancellations which come with sudden overcrowding.

The HSE’s national director for regional health area implementation Liam Woods addressed this recently. 

Documentation is being prepared on the elective hospitals for the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform by the HSE, he said on Wednesday. 

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The successful architect team will work on the Cork and Galway sites, he said, as well as supporting the HSE’s business case for the Dublin site.

“Market response to date has been positive with broad market interest in this competition,” he told the Oireachtas health committee on December 6.

“Responding to initial feedback, and to encourage optimal interest in participating in the stage 2 tender process, the closing date has been extended to January 2024.” 

He expects the Cork hospital to take in its first patients in 2027 and to be fully operational from 2028.

It is to be built on the campus of St Stephen’s Hospital outside the village of Glanmire.

The new hospital, once built, will have capacity for 180,000 procedures each year and will include nine operating theatres.

Also next year three sites in Munster, in Cork City, Limerick and Waterford, will see construction of surgical hubs to help reduce waiting times while the larger elective hospitals are being built.

These are based on a facility on the Reeves Day Surgery Centre at Tallaght University Hospital.