Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Dolan for placing this matter today. Before I go to the script it gives me great pleasure to discuss Portiuncula Hospital given that my youngest child was born there. It is 24 miles down the road from me so I know it intimately. Many of my constituents work in Portiuncula Hospital and it is embedded in the fabric not just of Ballinasloe but in the wider spread of the area. It provides a great service. I will read the script and then I will focus on the two main questions the Senator has asked.

Portiuncula hospital, Ballinasloe is one our acute general and maternity hospitals that delivers a patient-centred, quality-driven focused service and provides a wide range of diagnostic and support services. The hospital catchment area, as the Senator has referred, includes east Galway, Roscommon, the midlands and the mid-western areas.

The construction of the 50-bed ward block is an important project for this hospital. A contractor was appointed for the enabling works commenced on the 11 August 2020 and due for completion by 25 May 2021. It intended to advertise for contractors for construction of the 50-bed ward block in the second quarter of 2020. That should be about to progress as we speak now. This is with a view to commencing works on-site in mid-2021, subject to the availability of funding. This project is on the capital plan and the Senator was given commitments by the previous Minister. I have been speaking to the current Minister on this project and it is a focus to keep this project live and to ensure there is funding following for it.

As the Senator knows this winter is expected to be particularly challenging due to the presence of Covid-19 and the Government's determination to meet the challenge is demonstrated by its decision to invest the additional €600 million in the health services this winter: €200 million in 2020 ands €400 million in 2021, to support the roll-out of the winter-specific measures.

For Portiuncula Hospital, it is proposed to provide the additional space addressed by the Senator with a prefab-modular building for segregation which will provide an immediate solution for emergency department streaming for winter 2020 at the hospital. The modular building proposed will facilitate 14 temporary Covid-19 emergency department and minor injuries treatment and assessment rooms with associated support facilities. The unit will also have a residual value for the displacement of outpatient accommodation after the Covid-19 emergency. It states here that it is expected that the building will be ready for occupation by March 2021 but I have a slight concern that it will be ready for occupation by that date because that is at the end of our winter period.The staff and management of Portiuncula University Hospital would like to have a commitment that they could actually start. We all know that the accident and emergency department in the hospital is head-to-toe when it gets really busy. Due to Covid and social distancing it does not have the facility, hence the request that it needs to be prioritised. Other hospitals around the country are in the same position. That is the nature of the question.

I have spoken to the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, about the matter and I am trying to get it prioritised. Deputy Denis Naughten has also raised this issue. It is an issue of priority for constituents in the area. The staff and patients are at risk. The demographics of the area usually show that there is an older population. There is a fear on the part of GPs in terms of referring people to the hospital because it does not have adequate space for their patients.