The Health Service Executive stands accused of wasting millions on a ‘solution’ to overcrowding at University Hospital Galway (UHG) that will not result in any extra beds.
The planned new 75-bed clinical ward block at UHG, costing €17.6 million to build, has been heralded by health chiefs as a solution to overcrowding and lengthy waiting lists.
But a member of Health Minister Leo Varadkar’s own party, Senator Hildegarde Naughton, has sensationally claimed that there will be no net increase in beds once the new ward is opened.
Questioning the logic of investing in the new unit, Senator Naughton says three other wards will close as part of the development, meaning there will be no net increase in the number of beds at the hospital.
She says UHG is at “saturation point” and a new hospital at an alternative site in Merlin Park should be considered.
“We worked so hard to secure funding for investment in our hospital that would help to tackle the problems of overcrowding and unacceptably long waiting lists,” said Senator Naughton.
“Now funding has been provided, but we discover that €17.6 million will be spent on the new ward block but not one trolley will be moved from a corridor and not one waiting list will be shortened.”
Her position is at odds with party colleague and Galway West general election running mate, Deputy Sean Kyne, who just last month welcomed confirmation that funding had been included in the HSE service plan for the 75-bed ward to be opened by early 2017.
Deputy Kyne said the investment would “ensure the facility continues to meet the healthcare needs of the people of Galway and the West”.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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