Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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108. To ask the Minister for Health if she will commit to a definite date for delivery of 24/7 cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford; and when the people of the South East can expect such a service to be available to them. [64344/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I visited the University Hospital Waterford earlier this year and saw first-hand the state-of-the-art infrastructure supporting its cardiac services. Government is committed to progressing cardiac services at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) and has invested significantly in providing the resources required to support the delivery of enhanced and extended cardiac services.

Construction projects with a total cost of €64 million have been completed at University Hospital Waterford. Part of this investment has been a significant focus on developing cardiac services, particularly cardiac catheterisation laboratory services at the Hospital.

In 2018, a second cardiac catheterisation laboratory was approved for University Hospital Waterford. The second Cath Lab opened on 4th of September 2023 and operates 5 days per week Monday to Friday, 8am-6pm. 24 posts were provided to support the opening of the second cath lab.

In September 2022, the opening hours for the original cath lab were extended to 8 am – 8 pm, Monday to Friday. In March 2024, the Government announced provision for 19.5 staff in total to complement existing services and to extend the opening hours of one Cardiac Cath Lab at University Hospital Waterford to a seven day, 8.00am – 8.00pm service. After a successful recruitment campaign and discussions with the clinical teams, the 7-day service went live on March 18th, 2025.

I commend the collaborative advocacy of local TDs from across the political spectrum, along with the tireless efforts of local patient groups and staff.

The final step in service expansion is the introduction of a full 24/7 out-of-hours emergency cardiac service. I am pleased to confirm that I have directed the HSE to progress this.

We are working closely with both the hospital team and the HSE to ensure the appropriate resourcing to ensure UHW is proportionally staffed, and to bring UHW in line with other centres providing emergency cardiac care. We expect this work to be completed in the coming months subject to the availability of the necessary specialist workforce.