David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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792. To ask the Minister for Health the timeline for delivery of the second catheterisation laboratory at University Hospital Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9515/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Funding was allocated in the Capital Plan for the provision of a second Cath lab at UHW with planning permission subsequently received from Waterford City and County Council in January 2020.

The Disability Access certificate was granted in April 2020. The Fire certificate was granted in June 2020. Preparation of contract documentation commenced, and contractor selection is complete subject to a cooling off period. The project went to tender on the 30th September 2020. The Tender process being used is a 2 Stage process which normally takes about 4 months to complete. Tenders for the main Contractor were received on the 24th November, while the tenders for the mechanical and electrical sub-contractors were received in on the 21st December.

Works to the new Cath laboratory are due to commence in Q1 of 2021 with a proposed 12-month build. No delay due to current Level 5 restrictions are anticipated.The HSE is expected to receive a full tender report in relation to the 2nd Cath Lab in the coming weeks. This report will analyse all of the submissions from the three separate tender processes and recommend the acceptance of the preferred main building contractor, the preferred specialist mechanical sub-contractor and the preferred specialist electrical sub-contractor.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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793. To ask the Minister for Health the timeline for expanding provision of primary percutaneous coronary intervention, PPCI, hours at University Hospital Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9516/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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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.

The Herity Report also recommended that the current 9 to 5 provision of emergency pPCI services at UHW should cease to allow the hospital to focus on the much larger volume of planned work. The then Minister for Health asked the Department to address the implications of this recommendation by arranging for a National Review of Specialist Cardiac Services.

The National Review of Specialist Cardiac Services commenced in January 2018 with Professor Phillip Nolan as Chair of the Steering Group. This Review aims 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.

While substantial progress has been made on the Review, the work of the Steering Group has been interrupted by the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Chair’s involvement in the response, both as a member of the NPHET and Chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group. However, it is intended that the Cardiac Services Review will continue and it is planned that work will progress again in the coming months.

Future decisions in relation to cardiac services will be informed by the recommendations of the National Review.