Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is Groundhog Day as I bring up the issue of a second cardiac cath lab at University Hospital Waterford, where the HSE has spent 14 months attempting to provide a 12-bed day ward solution for this lab to operate. The latest parliamentary question response I received stated the hospital hoped to occupy the lab by quarter 2, not operate it. Operations cannot begin in this lab without dedicated day beds. Two solutions have existed for months. One is either a modular, six-bed day ward and six radial chairs being placed in the hospital to facilitate operations in this lab or, second, modular accommodation for the doctors' residence in the acute block, which could be remediated.

Will the Tánaiste dedicate the Government to giving a commitment that one or other of these solutions will be provided by the end of quarter 2 so that this laboratory can open five days a week? That is what we need, not three-day operations, not three beds as is being proposed. We need a 12-bed day configuration for that laboratory.

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