Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Naughton for raising this issue today. First, I recognise that University Hospital Galway is extremely busy, with approximately 66,000 emergency department attendances, 38,500 inpatient discharges and 76,000 day cases every year.

A number of construction and infrastructure projects are now under way at Galway University Hospitals, GUH, including the upgrade of the medical gas network and the commencement of enabling works for the new 50-bed acute mental health department. The transfer of acute mental health services to a new, purpose-built unit will facilitate construction of a new radiation oncology project, which is currently in design phase, at the old mental health services site.

A significant and welcome construction project, which commenced in May of this year, is the new ward block which will provide 75 beds in single room accommodation. Some of that capacity will replace older wards and some will be additional, to address the inherent bed capacity deficit that exists in Galway. It is anticipated that work will be completed by the end of 2016.

Recognising that the loss of 17 beds to commence this building work was unavoidable, 14 additional rehabilitation beds were opened in Merlin Park. In addition, emergency capital funding was approved by the HSE on 30 June to create 30 bed spaces in temporary ward accommodation as an interim measure. The additional accommodation will provide additional capacity and enable more effective streamlining of patients through the acute medical and acute surgical assessment units. The HSE is undertaking all actions possible to expedite the procurement of this accommodation without undue delay.

The completion of the hospital's clinical research facility and translational research facility building, which is now operational, is another significant development, facilitating clinical research, while allowing patients access to state-of-the-art treatment. That is a major advancement for the hospital as it has been internationally proven that clinical care provided in a research-intensive environment results in the best patient outcomes.

I referred at the outset to the high level of activity which takes place at the emergency department in Galway. As well as working closely with the special delivery unit, SDU, to better manage patient flow through the hospital, GUH has also recruited and allocated experienced general and paediatric nurses and advanced nurse practitioners to the emergency department. When we examine the pattern of patients on trolleys each week, however, it is clear that changes in working practices and better liaison with primary and social care services will help make better use of our facilities and smooth out activity in hospitals. In particular, the provision of short-stay beds in the community, transitional beds, additional intensive home care packages and medical care provided by community intervention teams in patients' homes are essential and welcome changes in activity which mean acute hospital facilities are used by those who specifically require acute medical or surgical care and the use of a hospital bed is less frequently required.

I acknowledge that the current physical infrastructure of the emergency department is not fit for purpose and requires investment. The HSE is concentrating on applying the limited funding available for infrastructure development in the most effective way possible to meet current and future needs across the overall acute hospital sector. Limited funding is available for new projects over the next multi-annual period which runs from 2015 to 2019, but I am advised by the HSE that some funding is available to advance the development of the plans to upgrade the emergency department at GUH. I will seek to have further funding for this project included in the 2016 to 2022 capital plan.