Decision due next week on UHG Emergency Dept
A decision is expected to be made next week on whether proposals for the development of a new Emergency Department at University Hospital Galway will proceed, it has emerged.
A cost-benefit analysis of the proposed facility was commissioned earlier this year and is currently in its final stages. The analysis will examine planning and funding requirements for a new ED.
If the analysis is favourable, the development of a new ED at the hospital will proceed to design phase later this year.
Minister for Health Leo Varadkar told Galway West Deputy Hildegarde Naughton in the Dáil this week that the cost-benefit analysis is expected to be completed by the end of next week.
Deputy Naughton said she was hopeful that the outcome of the analysis would pave the way for the development of a new ED at UHG, but restated her support for the long-term relocation of hospital services to Merlin Park.
“The Taoiseach was correct when he said last December that the ED at UHG is not fit for purpose, and that is no reflection on the exceptional staff who work so hard there in difficult circumstances,” she said.
For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune