Healthcare in Galway becomes part of new Regional Health Area
The administration of healthcare across the West is in line for another shakeup as part of Sláintcare, a ten-year roadmap agreed by all political parties to build better health services.
Under the reconfiguration, Galway will be included into one of six new Regional Health Areas, which will aim to deliver more integrated care.
To be known now as Region F, it will include counties Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.
Currently, health areas in Ireland are split into nine CHOs or Community Health Organisations.
Galway, Mayo and Roscommon (known now as HSE West) make up CHO2. There are currently five counties in CHO1, including Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal (collectively known as HSE North West) Cavan and Monaghan.
The new health board area, or Regional Health Area F, will combine the counties of HSE West and HSE North West; this will align them with the hospital group that covers those six counties.
According to Census figures from 2016, this new Regional Health Area will serve a population of over 700,000 people.
The new Regional Health Area will better align with the existing hospital group along the west and north west - Saolta University Healthcare Group which includes Galway University Hospitals (UHG and Merlin Park), as well as hospitals in Portiuncula, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo and Letterkenny.
Government confirmed there would be a “phased introduction” of the new bodies in 2023, and they will be “fully operational” from the following year.
“At the moment, community health and social services are planned, funded, and delivered separately from hospital services. There are nine Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs) and seven hospital groups, which provide services to various parts of the country. Hospital groups and CHOs serve populations that are grouped in different ways, which makes it challenging for the health system to deliver integrated care.
“The creation of six Regional Health Areas aims to address this. RHAs are geographically-based units with clearly defined populations. They align community and hospital services within specific areas. The HSE will retain a strong but leaner central organisation, with more service provision developed at a local level,” a spokesperson for the HSE explained.
The HSE said it plans a series of information events to explain the impacts of the changes to staff.