Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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373. To ask the Minister for Health if the mobile unit located at UHW which provides diagnostic cardiac care is capable of delivering PPCI intervention care in its current format; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4086/19]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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375. To ask the Minister for Health when he expects the appointment of an additional cardiology consultant at UHW to provide for an expansion of cover from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4088/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 373 and 375 together.

In 2016, the Herity Report concluded that the needs of the effective catchment population of University Hospital Waterford, UHW, could be accommodated from a single cath lab and recommended that the operating hours of the existing cath lab should be extended. Approval and funding has been provided for the additional staff required to facilitate this service expansion and five staff - Grade IV Admin, Porter, Senior Cardiac Physiologist, Senior Radiographer and Staff Nurse - have now been recruited on an 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. working day basis. Furthermore, the recruitment of a cardiologist to facilitate an increase in the operating hours of the existing cath lab is also being progressed by the HSE.

A mobile cath lab has also been deployed at UHW since October 2017 to conduct diagnostic cardiac procedures. In Autumn 2018, it was replaced with a relocatable cath lab, operating on the same basis as the mobile cath lab, that is, it carries out diagnostic cardiology procedures only. The contractual arrangements currently in place at UHW are for the provision of a unit capable of carrying out diagnostic cardiac procedures only.

I remain committed to the provision of a second cath lab in University Hospital Waterford. It is intended that the cost of progressing the project to design, planning and construction stages will be considered in the context of the HSE’s Capital Plan for 2019, which is currently being finalised.

The Herity Report also recommended that the current 9 to 5 provision of emergency pPCI services should cease to allow the hospital focus on the much larger volume of planned work. I asked my Department to address the implications of this recommendation by undertaking a National Review of Specialist Cardiac Services. The aim of this Review is to achieve optimal patient outcomes at population level with particular emphasis on the safety, quality and sustainability of the services that patients receive by establishing the need for an optimal configuration of a national adult cardiac service. As set out in the National Development Plan 2018-2027, investment in cardiac cath labs and other cardiac services infrastructure nationally will be informed by the outcome of the National Review, which is expected to be complete by June 2019.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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374. To ask the Minister for Health if funding of €4.35 million has been agreed and allocated to provide a permanent second catheterisation laboratory at UHW as per a previous meeting with Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas from County Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4087/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Following the publication of the Health Service Executive's National Service Plan for 2019, the HSE is currently developing its Capital Plan for 2019. The HSE Capital Plan will determine the projects that can progress in 2019 having regard to the available capital funding, the number of large national capital projects currently underway and the relevant priority of each project. The requirements of University Hospital Waterford and other health capital projects, currently at various stages of development, are being considered as part of this process.