Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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116. To ask the Minister for Health for an update on the provision of HSE elective hospitals as per the recommendations of Sláintecare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7767/23]

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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151. To ask the Minister for Health to confirm that his Department and the HSE have now appointed a team to design the new elective hospital in Cork; if he will confirm when the plans will be made available to the public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7708/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 151 together.

On 7 December 2022, the Government approved the next stage of the Enhanced Provision of Elective Care Programme and progression of the development of new Elective Hospitals in Cork and Galway (with Dublin to follow in due course). The new Elective Hospitals will provide significant additional capacity, enabling the separation of scheduled and unscheduled care. This will change the way in which day cases, scheduled procedures, surgeries, scans and outpatient services can be better arranged across the country, ensuring greater capacity in the future and helping to address waiting times.

The next phase of the Programme requires the preparation of site-specific project briefs, a procurement strategy, and detailed pre-tender business cases to progress to ‘Pre-tender Approval’ at Decision Gate 2 of the Public Spending Code for Cork and Galway. Key tasks for developing these documents have been established and include consideration of governance arrangements for national and local elements of the Elective Hospitals Programme. Once finalised by the HSE, the governance arrangements will reflect the need for national consistency in clinical, operational and building design along with Hospital Groups’ involvement to ensure local ownership of delivery.

Design teams for the new Elective Hospitals will be appointed following completion of the design of clinical and operational models. Once appointed, the Design teams will work to key design principles. The HSE is currently considering approaches to design and construction which might reduce the time required for this and other infrastructure work. This approach includes standardised design optimised (digital twin) for the manufacturing of repeatable units, off-site manufacturing at scale, final assembly, and commissioning on site.

The Preliminary Business Case for Dublin is currently being finalised. Following the required internal and external assurance processes it will be submitted for Government approval in due course.

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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117. To ask the Minister for Health if he will lend his support to locating the proposed surgical hub for the mid-west region at Ennis General Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7270/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The HSE is currently planning for the establishment of Surgical Hubs to assist in delivering elective care to patients across the country. These will be modelled on the successful Reeves Centre at Tallaght University Hospital which has significantly reduced waiting times for certain day-case procedures.

Planning by the HSE for the Surgical Hubs includes considering the context for the Hubs, such as the scope and typical scale of services to be included, deliverables and timescales for the work, the proposed model of care, and an approach, in broad terms, to completing the work.

While no decisions have yet been taken on sites for the new surgical hubs, the Government noted at its meeting on 7 December last that the HSE would work with hospital groups to progress these hubs in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway and Dublin.