Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have heard the Deputy and I will bring her issues to the Minister. It is acknowledged, as the Deputy rightly said, that the current emergency department at University Hospital Galway is unable to meet demand, which is contributing to significant waiting times and high numbers of patients waiting on trolleys for admission to the hospital. The development of a new ED at University Hospital Galway is the key to addressing these accommodation and associated risk issues. The proposed new ED will, hopefully, be reconfigured in a way that provides maximum opportunity to address all the elements for future emergency medical provision and the evolution of services in the context of hospital groups.

There is no date yet for the planning application for the main building, but the Deputy rightly mentioned the issue of staff recruitment and retention. There are issues with that and the Covid-19 pandemic has certainly affected many of those. There will be, and is, a major online recruitment drive. We would like to see recruitment happening sooner rather than later. I see staff recruitment issues in hospitals throughout the country, including the hospital I advocate for in my area. It is a process that can sometimes seem never-ending and one would hope hospitals would be much quicker in recruiting staff.

There is a lot of work ongoing in University Hospital Galway and, hopefully, working together with Saolta, the HSE, the Minister and representatives on the ground, the Deputy's powerful message will be brought back and we will deal with this very serious issue.

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