The Minister for Health has defended Government plans for infrastructural investment at Galway University Hospitals, saying a co-ordinated approach will deliver projects in a timely fashion.
Stephen Donnelly is in the city today for a series of engagements, commencing with an address to the Fórsa Health and Welfare Division conference this morning.
Speaking on Galway Bay FM, he said plans for a number of healthcare developments in the city would be progressed in parallel. The minister said this was the best way to ensure that they were finished in as quick a timeframe as possible.
The Saolta Hospital Group says four projects need to be completed, to address existing deficiencies at the main hospital in the west. This is on foot of a 2019 analysis, that showed 64% of the existing infrastructure there was not satisfactory for current needs.
The group has identified a number of projects needed to deal with this: The construction of a dedicated cancer centre with 200 beds; a new emergency department with maternity and paediatric services; new laboratory facilities and an elective hospital on the Merlin Park site.
Cancer campaigners have criticised the pace of progress on a dedicated centre for the region, arguing that the area is being disadvantaged in terms of outcomes and treatment.
They contrast the situation in the east of the country, where four Model 4 hospitals are located around Dublin, with an "outdated and dysfunctional infrastructure in the west and north west.
They want a project team to be appointed as a matter of urgency, so that work on the facility can commence.
Funding has not yet been approved for the construction of the centre.
But Minister Donnelly has said money has been allocated in the 2023 Capital Plan for a detailed design to be completed for the project. He said calls for a different approach on other projects in the recent past, such as a new emergency department, had caused unnecessary delays.
Minister Donnelly also said a plan to extend staffing cover across seven days in hospitals was a key part of the effort to ease pressures on the facility and reduce wait times.
He said increased staffing over weekends would have to be augmented by enhanced community care services, to support this.
