Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his response but I would like him to give a firmer commitment on when the new emergency department will be built and opened at University Hospital Galway. This has been going on for the past number of years but no member of Government or Minister has given a commitment on when it will actually happen.

I welcome the Taoiseach's comments on the minor injuries unit at Merlin Park. This is a major issue and such a unit would solve much of the overcrowding at University Hospital Galway. As well as bringing down the number of people at the emergency department in University Hospital Galway and reducing the worrying risk to patients from the current overcrowding, it would greatly reduce the length of time people must wait to be seen and treated. Current waiting times at the hospital are unacceptable. In the first seven months of this year, only 58% of the people attending the emergency department were dealt with in the first six hours and a quarter of the total were still waiting after nine hours. Both figures are well below the national average, and that is not to mention the 2,000 plus who were waiting 24 hours or more. Perhaps the most shameful statistic, from figures provided by the HSE, is that 50% of patients aged 75 and over in Galway were waiting more than nine hours to be either discharged or admitted, which is more than 3,300 of the most vulnerable members of our society.

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