Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Colm Burke for sharing time. The Minister will have a fair idea of what I wish to raise. It is the urgent need to build a 96 acute bed unit in University Hospital Limerick. The Minister is aware of that. A new accident and emergency department has opened and it is making an enormous difference, but there is still a bed capacity issue. The new accident and emergency department consistently has the highest number of people on trolleys. That is mainly related to the lack of bed capacity. It is a historical legacy from the reconfiguration of the services when Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's hospitals were closed in 2009 by a previous Fianna Fáil Administration. The Teamwork consultants report on reconfiguration stated that there were to be 136 co-location beds located on the grounds of University Hospital Limerick.That never came to pass. Consequently, from a situation where we had 35 accident and emergency beds in total between the four centres, University Hospital Limerick, Ennis, Nenagh and John's, our number was reduced to just 17 bays in one accident and emergency department. We now are up to 35, which will be welcome, but we still have the lack of beds. The Minister will be aware that I succeeded last year in getting €100,000, both working with the local HSE management of University Hospital Limerick and through the Minister and the HSE, to allow the design work to get under way on this 96 acute bed unit which will be located adjacent to the new ED on the grounds of University Hospital Limerick. I have two requests for the Minister, that this 96 acute bed unit will be included in the capital plan that is shortly to be announced and that funding will be provided to enable construction to get under way. Has the Minister looked at other means, by way of modular facilities, to increase bed capacity in the region because I believe we in Limerick are relatively unique nationally in that our major issue is bed capacity and I want to see the 96 acute bed unit built on the grounds of University Hospital Limerick as quickly as possible?