Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Boyhan in congratulating John Moran on his election as the first directly elected mayor of Limerick and commend all candidates who took part in a very engaging and constructive debate. It put Limerick city and county to the fore national and internationally. I want to acknowledge the cross-party support in the Seanad, as well as in Dáil Éireann, when I brought through the legislation for the directly elected mayor. People were very engaged and we took on quite a number of Opposition amendments and that underpins the role of the directly elected mayor of Limerick.

Returning to Senator Boyhan’s question, I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly. I am delighted to be able to provide an update today on the development of surgical hubs. The Government is fully committed to the continued improvement of elective care in Ireland, delivering better and more timely services for everyone. There are a number of ways in which this is being achieved.

Government policy on elective care has been informed by a number of policy documents including the 2017 Sláintecare report and implementation strategy, the 2018 national development plan, the 2020 programme for Government and, most recently, the national elective ambulatory care strategy agreed by the Government in December 2021. This strategy will change the way in which day case, scheduled procedures, surgeries, scans and outpatient services can be better arranged to ensure greater capacity in the future and help to address waiting lists at a national level. The development of additional capacity will be provided through dedicated, stand-alone new elective hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin.

We have seen a range of innovative care solutions developed locally. With regard to elective care, the Minister for Health was particularly impressed by the Reeves day surgery unit at Tallaght University Hospital which significantly reduced day surgery waiting times for patients. I am delighted that this surgical hub model is being rolled out nationally by the HSE in the interim before elective hospitals commence delivery.

As the Senator noted, six new surgical hubs are under development and I will provide an update on each today with the most recent information I have from the HSE. The surgical hub in south Dublin will be the first to open. It will be located at Mount Carmel and construction and fit-out are already underway and progressing well. Building completion of phase 1 is currently on track to be delivered for this August. Funding for ICT has been approved and recruitment has commenced.

The surgical hub in north Dublin is to be located in Swords. Construction has commenced and a building superstructure is in place. Recruitment will commence in due course. We expect the remaining hubs in Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford to become operational throughout 2025 and early 2026.

With regard to planning, the site at Maypark Lane, adjacent to University Hospital Waterford, received planning permission in April for the new surgical hub. Site acquisition has now concluded, allowing works to commence.

Notification of a decision to grant planning has been received for the Cork, Limerick and Galway hubs, located at Cork University Hospital, Scoil Carmel and Merlin Park, respectively, and I expect planning permission to be granted shortly. Pre-commencement conditions are progressing well for these sites.

I hope that the Senator can appreciate the significant work that has gone into the planning and establishment of these new hubs. Once operational, the hubs will treat more than 150,000 patients each year, providing a significant increase in our elective care capacity. By providing dedicated facilities, we can protect capacity for elective care, but we can also free up capacity elsewhere in the system for those other more complex and emergency cases to be seen in a timely fashion.

I hope the Senator will agree that these new facilities will provide significant and material benefits for all the people of Ireland. I know how important it is to public representatives across Ireland.