Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Calleary for raising this issue. I had an opportunity to visit Mayo University Hospital a number of months ago and to meet the management and staff there. I am aware of the issues with the physical size of the emergency department. Despite the best efforts of the management and staff, which the Deputy rightly acknowledged, the emergency department is not large enough for the number of people who come through its doors. We are aware that the demographics in terms of the population and particularly the ageing population in many counties have resulted in increased attendances, and Mayo is experiencing that as well. I am pleased that through the national development plan I have a significant capital budget to expand the size of our health service to deliver 2,600 additional hospital beds and 4,500 community beds. I expect that Mayo and Saolta University Health Care Group will get their fair share of them. I will shortly ask the hospital groups to submit their proposals on how to increase bed capacity in their groups and Mayo will be examined in that context.

However, the Deputy's particular question is about how we can physically extend the size of the emergency department, an issue that was also raised with me by of members of staff and management when I visited the hospital. I was apprised of the requirement for a new emergency department and also of the fact that the hospital and the group have come up with an interim solution in terms of a modular unit alongside the existing emergency department, which they believe would significantly benefit patient flow through the hospital. I am advised that the hospital and the group have advanced work on that proposal since my visit. Indeed, only last week officials from the HSE national estates were on site at the hospital to review and discuss the proposal and, following this meeting, further work will be undertaken on the scope of the design so the proposal can advance to the next stage.

I am actively considering a number of locations where we could provide modular units and modular builds, and Mayo is one such site. We are awaiting a number of proposals from the HSE in that regard. I do not wish to say to the people of the country that we have plenty of capital to increase the size of their hospitals but that it will take a number of years to build the extensions and wings. Bricks and mortar take time so I am looking favourably at modular units in that context, and Mayo is certainly under consideration. I look forward to the next iteration of its proposal following the visit by the officials from the HSE national estates.

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