Taoiseach assures Limerick TD that capacity will be expanded at UHL 'in the coming years'

THE TAOISEACH is confident that “substantive elements” of the healthcare plan for the Mid-West can be achieved “in the coming years.”

Taoiseach Mícheál Martin in the Dáil was responding to a question from Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea on whether a site for expanding UHL has been identified and if there is capital to fund the plans for healthcare in the region. 

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The Taoiseach acknowledged that Deputy O'Dea has been “a long-time advocate for health services in the Limerick region, in particular in light of the huge challenges that have faced acute services in the Mid-West. I join him in paying tribute to all the staff working in our hospitals in the Mid-West under difficult circumstances.”

He said that supporting the HIQA recommendations will need additional capital. 

The Taoiseach said: “Additional capital will be provided, in the first instance to progress option A. What is interesting is we know that the impacts can be quite dramatic when we get additional capacity. The average number of people waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick has almost halved in the week since the new 96-bed block opened compared with the weeks prior. That 96-bed block that is now open has made a difference, so we want to do a second block at that scale. The sooner that can be done, the better.

“Enabling works are now under way for the second 96-bed block at UHL. Additional 16 and 66-bed blocks are also in planning for accelerated delivery at the hospital. That will increase capacity at UHL by a total of 306 beds since 2023.”

In response to the query about option B, of expanding capacity with a site near Dooradoyle, he said that the HSE has been mandated to identify a site.

“I do not have the information to hand as to whether it has that site at the moment, but it has the mandate to secure the site. The standard governance structure and the project board will have to be established, as required by the HSE, to explore additional opportunities to decant services away from the main Dooradoyle site. My understanding is the project board has not yet been established, but it will be imminently, once we get the other site.” 

The Taoiseach explained that for option C, a new Model 3 hospital, which would include another emergency department, a strategic plan will be developed for the “incremental reconfiguration of and investment in healthcare services in the Mid-West region.”

He added: “I take the Deputy's point about timescale and capital. Subject to the revenues the economy is generating at the moment, we will have an expansive healthcare capital programme over the next number of years. I am confident we can accommodate substantive elements of this in the coming years.”

In his address in the Dáil, Deputy O’Dea said that patient safety is central to the proposals from HIQA and that means that “time is of the essence in implementing these proposals.”

He added: “I pay tribute to the staff, who have worked with great dedication and courtesy in UHL in what continue to be very difficult and sometimes intolerable conditions.”