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

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and I will adhere to the script that has been provided to me. Before I do so, it is important for me to say as a fellow Galwegian that it is five years since the roof started to leak in Merlin Park University Hospital. It is five years since they went out of operation, since they were not fit for purpose and since we had all these meetings. A lot of good work has been done since then. It is fantastic to see that two theatres have been completed, and to see the energy and drive that went into the projects in recent times to bring them to the stage they are at. I will read the Minister's script but I will then finish with my own abiding words.

I thank Senator Crowe for raising the matter of the two new orthopaedic theatres in Merlin Park University Hospital Galway. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on this important service. As part of the Saolta University Health Care Group, Merlin Park University Hospital is a level 2 hospital delivering non-complex elective medical surgical services including orthopaedic and minor surgeries and renal services. It has two designated rehabilitation units along with a number of specialist outpatient clinics. As the Senator will be aware, work on the two orthopaedic surgical wards to serve Merlin Park hospital was completed in 2022. The purpose of these theatres is to increase elective surgical capacity at the site. Construction was completed earlier this year and commissioning was finalised on 10 June 2022. Currently one of the theatres is fully operational. Staff were originally put in place to allow for the provision of 16 theatre sessions per week, but currently ten theatre sessions are provided per week. These sessions are provided in one theatre running five days a week.

From 7 November 2022, theatre sessions were planned to increase to 12 per week. However, staff vacancies mean that ten theatre sessions are provided per week at present. Management at the hospital, in conjunction with the Saolta University Health Care Group, has approval for additional positions and is currently recruiting staff for these posts. For reasons of patient safety, which we can all agree is of paramount importance, it is not possible to open a second theatre until adequate staffing levels are in place. Currently the hospital requires an additional anaesthetist to allow the number of sessions to increase. International recruitment for nursing is also being progressed in order to increase staff resources and facilitate the operation of the second theatre. Management in Merlin Park hospital currently plans for the number of sessions to return to 16 a week from 9 January 2023. I do not know how they can do that. They will not have the staff.

Recruitment of key staff for health posts remains challenging. However, as a result of the commitment to sufficiently staff the health service in the long term, 2020-21 saw record numbers of recruitment into the workforce. In 2020 we saw the largest increase in the health sector workforce since the foundation of the HSE and in 2021 we saw the second largest increase.

There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on waiting lists and to be honest it is great to see the theatres now commissioned. We need to ask the HSE and the Saolta University Health Care Group to prioritise the recruitment of the anaesthetist and the staff to ensure elective surgeries can take place. The Senator outlined the need clearly when he spoke about the woman who is waiting for five years.I have a book full of women who are waiting five years for services. It is incumbent on the HSE to prioritise. One way of driving down waiting lists is to recruit into the elective space. That is why we talk about needing an elective hospital. Surely how we clearly demonstrate we can deliver an elective hospital is to recruit enough staff to work in two theatres.

I thank the Senator.