Professor Colette Cowan:

The 96-bed block is starting and the sod turning will be some time in October. That is a two-year plan so we cannot rush that any further with the construction teams building it. On capital, we have submitted for a second 96-bed block. That will go to the board of the HSE and will be discussed at Government level under the new planning and capital development heading. At that point, we will have our work done and that will be submitted, but we cannot go any faster with any of that, unfortunately.

We are the second busiest emergency department in the country. What is of significance is that we are the receiver of more emergency ambulances than the next-busiest hospital in the country, on average 400 a month more, which is a lot of emergency ambulances. This indicates that patients are coming to the right place for their emergency treatment, into the resuscitation unit for emergency care. Unfortunately, this leads to other people having to wait long periods in the ED for less urgent care. What we try to do is promote other options for them, such as our local injuries units or medical assessment units, the GP service or pharmacist expertise in respect of keeping them out of the ED. Many people wait who are not as high acuity as the high numbers that are brought in by the ambulance service.

We have the best turnaround time in the country for the ambulance service. We have to be positive about certain things.

We have the best emergency department facility in the country from an infrastructural point of view as well as the best critical care block.