David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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65. To ask the Minister for Health the way in which UHW and the South/Southwest Hospital Group will provide both planned and emergency PPCI work at the cardiac unit at UHW with one lab; if this goes against the recommendation of the Herity report; his views on whether it is possible and safe to provide both planned and emergency work for the effective population with a single lab; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11824/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, an independent report undertaken by Dr Niall Herity recommended that the provision of PPCI services at UHW should cease, in order to allow the hospital to focus on the much larger volume of planned cath lab work. However, as I have made clear, before any changes are made to how a service is delivered, I want to establish how services are improved for the patients using that service. Therefore, the implications of ceasing primary PCI services at UHW will be addressed by undertaking a national review of all primary PCI services with the aim to ensure that as many patients as possible have access on a 24/7 basis to safe and sustainable emergency interventions following a heart attack.

I should also mention that while Dr Herity found that the needs of the effective catchment population of UHW can be accommodated in a single cath lab, he recommended increased investment in cardiology services at the hospital. I am therefore pleased to confirm that an additional €.5m funding has been provided to UHW in 2017 which will enable the hospital to provide 2 additional cath lab sessions (8 hours) per week. The UHW cath lab will now be funded to provide 12 sessions i.e. 48 hours activity per week.