Temporary Emergency Department set to open in September

The temporary facility will be in operation for a number of years until the proposed permanent ED is built on the site of the existing unit, which has been deemed ‘unfit for purpose’.

Tony Canavan, CEO of Saolta University Healthcare Group, confirmed the new temporary ED would have capacity for 43 beds, nine more than the capacity of the current facility.

It will “provide all single closed cubicles and extra resuscitation bays providing greater dignity and privacy for patients” than exists in the current ED, he said.

Mr Canavan described the temporary ED as an “enabling” project to clear the way for the development of a new permanent ED and new Women and Children’s block.

The initial handover of the temporary ED from the contractor will take place in July but then commissioning will take a further three to four weeks.

Phase two of the handover will be September, when he expects the facility to be operational.

Galway County Councillor Daithí Ó Cualáin (FF) welcomed progress on the new temporary ED and said the additional capacity would help to alleviate some of the overcrowding experienced in the existing ED.

“It’s not often we have good news from the UHG ED,” he said.

In reply to a query from Cllr Donagh Killilea (FF), Mr Canavan confirmed that the new permanent ED and Women and Children’s block at UHG would require Cabinet approval.

He confirmed that a strategic assessment report was submitted to the National HSE in April of this year but it would ultimately need Government approval and two other milestones before any contractor is procured or construction begins.

He said that a project of this size may be “subject to an independent review and assurance mechanism” as per the Public Spending Code to ensure value for money.

In response to a query by Cllr Killilea on plans for a new, elective hospital for Galway, Mr Canavan said: “There is no further update on the new elective hospital at this time.”

Meanwhile, Mr Canavan has conceded that the approval process for eth new permanent ED and new Women and Children’s hospital block was delaying progress on a public transport corridor through UHG grounds at Newcastle.

The plan is to link Westside with University Road by a bus land through the hospital.

Mr Canavan said that the HSE and Saolta “support the objective of a public transport route through the hospital”.

But he said that the approval process for the permanent ED “determines when it is time for the HSE West Estates and the local authority [Galway City Council] to re-engage and progress the proposed bus corridor at UHG”.