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

129. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question Number 29 of 8 December 2022, the status of the examination by his Department of the strategic assessment report regarding the new emergency department at University Hospital Galway; if the SAR examination has been completed to date; if the SAR has been submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform for review; the expected timeline for the proposal to be developed into a preliminary business case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7238/23]

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

In December 2022 I noted that the review of the Strategic Assessment Report (SAR) for the proposed Emergency Department (ED), Women and Children’s block in University Hospital Galway was expected to be concluded in early 2023. This timeline remains on track and the SAR review is close to finalization.

I am acutely aware that the Galway ED project has been discussed for over 10 years. One of the reasons the project remains 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 a new Women and Children’s block.

However, the new interim ED, which represents an investment of €13m, was completed in July 2022 and has been operational since October 2022. This is providing new segregated waiting areas, segregated treatment areas, isolation rooms, additional resuscitation spaces and additional support accommodation to take account of requirements to treat Covid-19 patients and improved Infection Control and Prevention requirements for the ED. This early investment in the campus will also serve as enabling work for the larger project, should it be approved, freeing up the site required for the proposed new block.

The proposals for the much larger project are now projected to be in the hundreds of millions of euros and, 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 the finalised review finds that the SAR provides a basis to proceed, approval to develop the proposal by means of a Preliminary Business Case 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.

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.