Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter and giving me an opportunity to outline to the House the position regarding the new emergency department at University Hospital Galway.

University Hospital Galway provides regional services for a wide range of specialties that serve a catchment area of approximately 1 million people along the west from Donegal to north Tipperary. University Hospital Galway is a model 4 hospital that provides 24-7 acute surgery, acute medicine and critical care. This project for a new emergency department at University Hospital Galway, which is part of a larger development incorporating maternity and paediatric services, is included in the capital plan for 2021. Approval has been granted to complete a temporary extension to the emergency department to provide additional accommodation. This includes segregated waiting areas, segregated treatment areas, isolation rooms, additional resuscitation spaces and additional support accommodation to take account of new requirements to treat Covid-19 patients, and improved infection control and prevention requirements for the emergency department. Externally, this also includes enabling works by way of road and car park reconfigurations, and utilities and drainage diversions, that are all located to the east of the main block of University Hospital Galway.

The temporary emergency department extension will be a single-storey building with a rooftop plantroom and will be connected to the main hospital block at the existing emergency department entrance. It is expected that this project will be completed in early 2022. The temporary emergency department project, and associated works, will serve as an enabling works project for the proposed permanent emergency department by helping to clear the site.

The main emergency department women's and children's development at University Hospital Galway is a complex project and is in the early stages of design progression. This project is of significant scale and must progress through the stages outlined in the public spending code. The design team was requested to assess the feasibility of fully developing the women's and children's element of the block at the same time as the development of the lower emergency department floors. This would result in the completion of the full development as one project. This feasibility report has been completed and has been considered by the HSE nationally.

No date has yet been set for the planning application for the main building. A few enabling works projects are required to clear the site before the main building can go ahead. The design team has had pre-planning meetings with the local authority on two of the enabling works projects. Other site enabling works are ongoing in preparation for the main emergency department women's and children's block development, including road and services realignment.All capital development proposals must progress through a number of approval stages in line with the public spending code. The delivery of capital projects is a dynamic process and is subject to successful completion of various approvals, which can impact on the timeline for delivery.