Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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327. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the creation of an elective hospital in the mid-west. [56089/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In December 2021 the Government agreed, subject to the necessary approvals and requirements under the Public Spending Code being met, a new National Elective Ambulatory Care Strategy. This new strategy aims to 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. The development of additional capacity will be provided through dedicated, standalone Elective Hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin.

The locations chosen will allow for new facilities of a size and scale to implement a national elective care programme that will tackle waiting lists on a national basis. This means that the new facilities will be designed to maximise their capacity and in doing so will operate to cover as wide a catchment area as possible, extending beyond existing and future health areas including the mid-west. The locations were also chosen in line with good practice which suggests that, in order to maximise economies of scale, dedicated, standalone elective centres should be “as big as is reasonably possible” to meet identified demand while providing appropriate population coverage. Locating the new facilities in Cork, Dublin and Galway will enable the provision of a national service while aiming to maximise the coverage of the ECCs as far as is reasonably possible. The introduction of this new delivery capability into the Public Healthcare System will benefit the whole population, including those who do not fall within the immediate geographical catchment. It is envisaged that the Cork and Galway facilities combined will cater for up to 350,000 patients/procedures annually.

The Government is committed to continued improvement of the elective care system in Ireland through the National Elective Ambulatory Care Strategy. We also note that a number of solutions have been developed at individual hospital-level to address local need and will keep an open mind as to how elective care can be best delivered both in the mid-west and across the country.