Merlin Park operating theatres are finally set to resume operations

The long-awaited new operating theatres for orthopaedic surgery at Merlin Park Hospital could be up and running within a month.

That’s what the HSE has told Galway West Independent TD Noel Grealish, with construction of the two operating theatres due to be completed by the end of March – bringing an end to a shortage of operating capacity stretching back to 2017.

“The new theatres are expected to be equipped and to be completed by the end of March 2022,” Paul de Freine, Interim National Director of the HSE Capital & Estates division, told Deputy Grealish this week in a written response to a Parliamentary Question.

“It is anticipated that a minimum of 3,000 orthopaedic procedures will be carried out in the new theatre suite initially and, depending on staffing, it is hoped this figure will increase to over 4,000 orthopaedic procedures per annum,” he added.

The new was welcomed by Deputy Grealish, who pointed out that waiting lists for orthopaedic procedures in Galway had been growing since a leaking roof forced the closure of two operating theatres at Merlin Park Hospital in September 2017.

“We have been waiting more than four and a half years for them to be replaced and in the meantime waiting lists for orthopaedic procedures have increased twice the national rate,” he said.

“We now have a total of more than 7,800 people who are on the orthopaedic waiting lists in Galway, as inpatients or outpatients, an increase of 1,340.

“An indication of how much the reduction in treatment options in Galway has affected those waiting for help is that the numbers have gone up by 21% in Galway since September 2017, compared with less than 11% in the rest of the country,” said Deputy Grealish.

“But it’s the people who have been waiting in pain for the most serious operations such as a hip operation or knee replacement who have been especially affected in Galway

“The number of these people waiting for inpatient operations in Galway has shot up by 48% over the past four and a half years, while their numbers nationally have fallen substantially, by 13%.”

The Independent TD highlighted the plight of those waiting the lost period of time to get the help they needed in Galway, with people waiting more than a year and half for orthopaedic operations as inpatients increasing by more than six times the number in 2017, shooting up from 42 back then to 282 today.

“The saddest part of this is that many of the people we are talking about here would be in the older age category, whose quality of life has been hugely affected and their ability to move about gone in many cases.”

Paul de Freine of the HSE, in his response to Deputy Grealish’s parliamentary question, outlined how €10.57m had been provided for the provision of the two new operating theatre suites and ancillary accommodation, including a scrub room, anaesthetic rooms, disposal room, recorder bay, staff changing rooms, office, kitchenette and interview room.

“The development is an upgrade and consolidation of the existing theatre service on the site. A new link corridor will link the existing  hospital block to the new development. The theatres will be primarily used to orthopaedic elective surgery in Merlin Park University Hospital,” he added. The work had started in March 2021.