Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending. I recently had the opportunity to talk to a retired nurse of senior standing who qualified in what was then the regional hospital in Newcastle, Galway, in the early 1970s. She had been there from the mid to late 1960s. The hospital is now University Hospital Galway, UHG, which is located on University Road. It was a hugely informative discussion. She was able to tell me about the lack of specialisation back then and the handful of surgeons and consultants. She thought there were about ten in total. She spoke about the conditions that nowadays require a day case or perhaps an overnight procedure but from which one could have died 40 years ago. She was able to tell me about the much smaller hospital building in a much smaller town and the fact it was effectively run by a matron of fearsome repute. She was also able to list out on a piece of paper, floor by floor, ward by ward, as only a nursing sister can, the number of inpatient beds in University Hospital Galway in 1971. The number was 464, give or take a few. At the time the population of Galway was much smaller and there were a lot fewer surgeons and consultants. Back then the hospital was not a centre of excellence, attracting patients from all over the western seaboard for oncology, cardiothoracic surgery and cardiology, and when patients were not flown there daily from all over Connacht and beyond, from out at sea and the top of mountains for emergency treatment.

In the space of 45 years, University Hospital Galway has added just less than 100 inpatient beds to cope with the current need. I accept that medical science has advanced and many people can now be seen as a day case for conditions that previously would have required admission. I also accept that modern health and safety regulations dictate that the number of beds in a given space in the previous time would no longer be acceptable today. Additionally, some people no longer even need a procedure with the advent of new drugs. I will not argue with the nurse on whether her memory is correct on the numbers, but the fact remains and the Minister has seen it for himself that the hospital complex is simply bursting at the seams. It is not just the accident and emergency department, it is the entire complex. I am sure the Minister would acknowledge the staff at the hospital do a wonderful job. The simple issue is a lack of space. The chief operating officer, Tony Canavan, said so himself on Monday.

One could ask what is happening at the moment. To make space, the physiotherapy department and other sections are being moved across the city away from the acute hospital to Merlin Park. That is hardly ideal. Basically what is happening there is a daily patch job, a case of getting over the crisis and moving on to the next. For the avoidance of doubt, the blame for the situation cannot be laid at the Minister’s door. We inherited an economy that was broken. We had no money to invest in infrastructure and we still have very little. Even if we had the money, the infrastructure required would take some time to complete. The problem in UHG is a manifestation of years of under-investment and the fact that when investment was made, the result was past its sell-by date when the doors were opened. The current accident and emergency department is hardly in place for 20 years, yet it is completely unfit for purpose.

One could ask what we can do. The Government is in office and, money or no money, we simply must plan for the future. I ask the Minister two things: first, to recommit as a matter of priority to getting a new accident and emergency unit with the shell space for a new maternity department included in the capital development programme and, second, to order a comprehensive study of future bed needs, including bed capacity, at University Hospital Galway. The study should include the development potential of the Merlin Park site and also demographic changes that are forecast for the next 30 to 40 years. The development can be fed into the capital programme in the forthcoming years. It should be a long-term plan for the development of the major acute hospital in the west over the coming decades, a hospital that saves the lives of people from Donegal to Clare and Connemara to Athlone. Perhaps in that way we can avoid the fire-fighting that has been a feature of our health system for decades. I know the Minister. He is a straight talker and that is very much appreciated. It is in that spirit that I urge him to consider this request.