Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

29. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 132 of 20 October 2022, the status of the examination by his Department of the strategic assessment report regarding the new emergency department, ED, at University Hospital Galway; the expected timeline for the delivery of the new ED; the reasons for the delay in the delivery of the new ED, particularly in view of the expected timeline as set out in the 2019 options appraisal for model 4 hospital services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61358/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I’d like to acknowledge the difficult conditions for patients, families and healthcare staff working in University Hospital Galway.

I visited Galway earlier this year. It is clear that action is required there on multiple fronts and I am pleased to say that the interim ED opened in October 2022.

While improving service delivery capability, the interim ED will also serve as enabling works for the larger project; freeing up the site required for the proposed new block.

The review of the Strategic Assessment Report (SAR) for the proposed Emergency Department (ED), Women and Children’s block at is progressing well.

I expect that this will be concluded in early 2023. Once the SAR review is completed, it will be submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) for review.

I am aware that the ED project has been discussed for over 10 years and was included in the Saolta Group’s 2019 Options Appraisal for Model 4 Hospital Services. The ambitious timelines in that report obviously could not predict the impact and delays arising from the pandemic, nor the wider impacts on the construction sector, including the impact of construction inflation.

However, one of the reasons that the project is still in development phase is that there has been a very significant increase in the scale and ambition for the solution there, with the combination of the new ED with the Women and Children’s block.

The proposals are now costed in the hundreds of millions and significantly more that those indicatively forecast in the 2019 report. As the Deputy will be aware, all projects proposed in excess of €100m must be subject to the full scrutiny of the Public Spending Code process to ensure that proposals continue to represent value for money for the taxpayer and the best solution to the underlying problems.

If DPER finds that the SAR provides a basis to proceed, approval to develop the proposal by means of a Preliminary Business Case at Decision Gate 1 of the Public Spending Code can be granted.

The proposal will then proceed through the various Decision Gates of the PSC as long as the proposal satisfies the requirements laid down in code.

Unfortunately, the timeline for the new ED, together with the Women and Children’s block, cannot estimated be made until after the completion of a tender competition and submission of the Final Business case to Government for approval.