Feasibility study for new hospital in Galway

Senior management at University Hospital Galway have indicated for the first time they are examining the feasibility of a new replacement hospital on the grounds of Merlin Park.

Oireachtas members hailed the acknowledgement by the Chief Clinical Director for the Saolta Hospital Group Dr Pat Nash that a new hospital was required as a victory for common sense.

Dr Nash was briefing TDs and Senators from Galway and Roscommon last Friday on the situation at UHG. A spokesperson for the hospital group said there were no immediate plans for an application for a new hospital to be submitted to the Department of Health.

“At the briefing, the Chief Clinical Director for the Group Dr Pat Nash acknowledged – in the context of a discussion around the constraints of the UHG site – that plans for developments into the future, including a new hospital, would have to consider the Merlin Park site,” she stated.

However newly-elected TDs Catherine Connolly and Hildegarde Naughten have described even that tacit statement as significant.

Deputy Connolly said the “frank acknowledgement that a new hospital is absolutely necessary” was refreshing.

“It is now time for Galway West TDs to work together and ensure that a new hospital becomes a reality,” she insisted.

“Rather than commit to a new hospital in a planned and timely manner however senior management at the hospital along with each new government in power refused to even contemplate such a development.

“Instead new wings and new buildings were constructed on an already congested site and in an ad hoc manner and under pressure in response to each crisis arising.

“Finally it seems sense has prevailed and both the Clinical Director and the Manager of University Hospital Galway both openly acknowledged that planning should immediately begin for a new hospital. Moreover, both acknowledged that all planned construction works are simply fire-fighting and crisis-driven and they confirmed that on the risk register compiled as part of the management’s statutory duty, the biggest risk is lack of capacity.”

For more on the crisis at UHG, see this week’s Galway City Tribune