The provision of a new emergency department at University Hospital Galway is still a long way off, with a second cost benefit analysis yet to be considered by a national body charged with deciding on large capital projects.
The HSE’s National Capital Approvals Committee will receive the second analysis for a much scaled down proposal for a new emergency department next month.
The chief operating officer for the Saolta University Health Care Group, Ann Cosgrove, said it was well over a year ago when University Hospital Galway sent its first cost benefit analysis for a proposed six to seven storey building, which would have accommodated a new ED as well as a maternity unit.
This took a considerable length of time to submit and only after a detailed examination of the site and needs of the hospital.
However the proposal was rejected as too ambitious and the hospital management was asked to resubmit a plan for a two-storey building facilitating only the emergency unit. That will be completed and sent in March, she said.
“We have actively pushed for a replacement ED. We have got to get a replacement ED for patients of Galway. There’s no doubt about that,” she stated.
“It will take time. The indications are that it will be received positively but until we’ve seen that in writing it’s difficult to accurately predict how it will go.”
Cllr Mary Hoade (FF), who is running as a candidate in Galway West, raised the matter at this week’s Regional Health Forum West meeting saying she was concerned at how long it was all taking.
“You sent a cost benefit analysis before – it’s just a worry. Even now there’s no guarantee. It’s still only at design stage. No matter what happens, there won’t be a new ED for some time. That’s not anywhere near the top of the agenda at the moment,” she exclaimed.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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