Questions over site and timeframe for meeting healthcare needs in Limerick and the region
Government have now committed to progressing with three recommendations made by HIQA earlier this year
THERE are concerns that there is no firm timeline or ring-fenced funding for the site to expand capacity from University Hospital Limerick (UHL), and the broader plans for a model 3 hospital in the region.
The Government are progressing with the three HIQA recommendations, Option A of adding beds on the current UHL site; Option B of expanding on another site close by; and Option C of progressing with a strategic plan for a new hospital in the Mid-West with an emergency department.
Regional Executive Officer for HSE Mid-West, Sandra Broderick told RTE Radio One that finding hospital sites will take time.
Option B of increasing capacity on an ancillary site will be done on a phased basis to allow for recruitment and beds to build up over phases every three to five years.
Ms Broderick said that the HSE has now been given the green light to identify a site for Option B, but no firm timeline has been given.
When asked if a new hospital would be best placed in Tipperary or Clare, she said: “I don't have a view on where a new hospital or anything like that should be.
“We have a future pathway in the Mid-West and that's something we didn't have on Monday morning, we have it now and we need to move forward with it,” she said.
Ms Broderick also acknowledged and thanked the staff in the Limerick hospital for all of their hard work and dedication.
She said that this announcement “was as much for them as the half a million people who depend on healthcare in the Mid-West.”
Chief Executive of the HSE, Bernard Gloster has said that delivering all three options recommended by HIQA is an ideal solution.
He acknowledged that the site for UHL expansion, which has not been chosen, will be close to Dooradoyle.
Mr Gloster said that money for a new hospital will come through Government capital funding through the National Development Plan and he said that staffing will be phased in.