Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the need for an elective hospital in Limerick. It is already Government policy that Cork, Galway and Dublin will get elective hospitals, and it is completely illogical that Limerick and the mid-west are not included. There are a couple of reasons for that. I have been a public representative of Limerick for many years. We have the highest number of people going through the emergency department, ED. In 2021, Limerick had the highest number of patients going through the ED in any one year, while it is predicted that almost 80,000 people will go through it this coming year. Furthermore, we have the lowest number of open beds per 1,000 of population of any region.

Cork, Galway and Dublin all have private hospitals. We have no private hospital at the moment, even if we will have one in the future. The lack of an elective hospital is illogical given Limerick has been the place with the highest number of people on trolleys over a recurring period. Thankfully, the numbers today are down. Nevertheless, while they are not at their highest level, they are still high.

This is pretty straightforward. The Taoiseach has stated in recent days that he now believes that the case for an elective hospital in Limerick is compelling.

I want to see about getting a process under way. An elective hospitals oversight group has been established to progress the elective hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin. I want to see the Minister for Health now direct it to start scoping for an elective hospital for County Limerick. This is the process I want to see around that. We have University Hospital Limerick, UHL. St. John’s Hospital in the heart of the city has a proposal in at the moment. It is already an elective hospital, in many ways. It has a proposal in to increase the number of beds from 90 up to 150. UPMC has also brought forward a proposal for an elective hospital. This needs to be scoped. I want an agreement in principle from Government that it will now make a Government policy that Limerick will have an elective hospital. Part of that has to involve the consideration of what St. John’s Hospital can bring to the table. We need to evaluate the UPMC proposal as well.

The process, which I have looked through, is very straightforward. The Government and the Minister for Health need to direct the elective hospitals oversight group, which has joint governance under the Department of Health and the HSE, to now include the scoping out of an elective hospital in Limerick along with what it is doing in Cork, Galway Dublin. Otherwise, it is incomplete. I would certainly question the methodology that was used that gave rise to elective hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin and none in Limerick. It is illogical to me. We have to move to the next step.

The Taoiseach came out and firmly stated that he now sees the compelling need. He said he will go to the Minister for Health to fast track it. I am now putting forward what the process is, which is that the Minister for Health instructs the elective hospitals oversight group to start the scoping exercise as to what form the elective hospital in Limerick will take. When it goes to the elective hospitals oversight group, however, it should be Government policy that there will be an elective hospital in Limerick.

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