Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this issue. The Minister for Health will be aware of the serious difficulties that have faced patients and staff at University Hospital Galway, UHG, in recent years. I will not go over all the challenges again, save to say that it is among the worst performing hospitals in terms of accident and emergency waiting times and inpatient and outpatient waiting lists. This week, UHG enters its seventh week of code black due to overcrowding and doctors and nursing staff at the hospital stated today that overcrowding is endangering the lives of people in the region.

In response to a parliamentary question I tabled recently, the Health Service Executive informed me that since 2006, capital expenditure at the Galway University Hospitals Group has exceeded €109 million. I do not expect the Minister of State will know how many additional beds this investment provided but the HSE informs me that the number of beds available in the two hospitals in the group, namely, UHG and Merlin Park Hospital, has decreased by 157 since this investment was made. The capacity of both hospitals declined from 812 beds in January 2006 to 655 beds as of October this year. In the meantime, the population has increased substantially, from 4.2 million in 2006 to 4.7 million this year. The ageing population has also increased significantly. Furthermore, UHG has been designated a centre of excellence for major specialties such as oncology and cardiology in the meantime. This means the hospital is supposed to provide expert care in serious cases for approximately 800,000 people living in an area extending from County Donegal to County Clare and eastwards as far as Athlone.

Additional beds are required. The new 75-bed block nearing completion will provide few new beds as other wards will need to close to facilitate access to the new block. In addition, every time a new extension is built at University Hospital Galway, car parking space is removed. The psychiatric unit under construction is being built on the staff car park. There are unapproved plans for a badly needed accident and emergency unit which will, in all probability, eat further into the space available for car parking. It is a simple fact that UHG is in the wrong place and finds itself unable to cope. It is astonishing that there are only 73 inpatient beds in Merlin Park Hospital. I understand most of these beds are occupied by long-stay geriatric patients. Merlin Park Hospital is located in a vast complex encompassing approximately 150 acres of State owned land. At this critical point, is it not clear that we need a new hospital on this vastly under-utilised site?

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