The needs of UHG for urgent funding and a new emergency department must not be ignored in favour of the proposed new hospital in Merlin Park, which may take 20 years to see completion.
This is the view of Fine Gael Senator Seán Kyne, who said all Oireachtas members in Galway "need to get behind the delivery of a new Emergency Department" for UHG, and he accused the Saolta Hospital Group of not yet lodging planning permission for it.
“UHG is our hospital. We must invest in it," he said. "We need a new ED now and continued investment. We cannot afford continuing delays where pressure is being applied to ignore UHG and prioritise a possible new hospital in Merlin Park for delivery in over 20 years from now."
'Short-sightedness'
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Sen Kyne's comments followed recent comments by Saolta’s clinical director, Pat Nash, and Liam Woods, national director of acute operations with the HSE, of the new 75-bed ward in UHG. Both men, speaking at a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee. said the new wards had been extremely helpful and beneficial in the fight against Covid-19.
'It is unthinkable how much more challenging the situation at UHG would be without the 75 bed ward'
The 75 beds - the Shannon, Corrib and the Claddagh wards in University Hospital Galway - are all single occupancy en-suite rooms which means isolating a patient is easier as is the prevention of cross infection.
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“Without doubt, the 75-bed ward block, with its single rooms and infection control areas have been instrumental in helping the staff of UHG with the immense challenge that is Covid-19," Sen Kyne said. "Single rooms are always preferable to multi-bed wards and these beds have proven vital as the Covid cases have increased."
He also said the pandemic had "exposed the short-sightedness" of those who wanted to "stop this development" from being built in UHG. "It is unthinkable," he said, "how much more challenging the situation at UHG would be, over and above what it is at the moment, for staff and patients alike, without the 75 bed ward."
