Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 February 2026
275. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE statement issued on 19 February 2026, which states that phase 1 of the National Elective Care Programme includes zero beds for the elective hospitals in Galway, Cork and Dublin, is accurate (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15497/26]
View answer277. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health whether the planning application expected in the next few months for the elective hospital at the Merlin Park site in Galway will include 200 beds comprising 175 day beds and 25 overnight beds; if she will provide an estimated timeline for the submission of the planning application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15499/26]
View answer278. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health if it remains Government policy to deliver 200 beds comprising 175 day beds and 25 overnight beds as part of the establishment of a new standalone elective hospital at the Merlin Park site in Galway; as originally envisaged under the National Elective Care Programme (details supplied); if so, if she will provide an estimated timeline for the works; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15500/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 275, 277 and 278 together.
The government is fully committed to increasing elective-only day-case capacity through the Elective Ambulatory Care Programme, in line with the 2017 Sláintecare Report. The government’s commitment to delivering this has been set out in successive Sláintecare Implementation Strategies and Action plans in 2018, 2021 and 2025, the National Elective Care Ambulatory Strategy of December 2021, and the Programme Preliminary Business Case (PBC) and project PBCs for Galway and Cork approved in December 2022, all of which have proposed elective day-case only facilities in Galway, Cork and Dublin.
Whilst there had been a scoping paper prepared for the Saolta Group in 2019 for an elective hospital at Merlin Park, this was superceded by the elective strategy agreed by Government in 2022 and which is being delivered in two phases: a national network of Surgical Hubs in the first instance to meet medium-term demand and capacity, and then, a national network of Elective Treatment Centres, known as Elective Hospitals, in Galway, Cork and Dublin.
There has been no decision to limit or change the scope or ambition of these elective facilities, including the project business case for Galway. The 2022 preliminary business case (PBC) for the elective care programme proposed a phased approach to the development of the Elective Hospitals. The first phase (which was the focus of the PBCs and has been the HSE’s work to date) included day cases only. As per the Government decision of 2022, the sites identified for these facilities have sufficient capacity for future growth and reconfiguration to facilitate potential future phases, including some elective in-patient capacity, if required.
The design phase for the Elective Treatment Centres is ongoing, and plans will be refined based on the evidence and data available in relation to demand and capacity, as required by the Infrastructure Guidelines. The HSE and its appointed design team are working through these plans at the moment, with an expectation that a planning application can be submitted in the middle of this year.
Elective care does not require the same facilities as acute hospitals. These new ‘elective-only’ facilities are for day-case patients, they are not for acute or emergency care. Significant international evidence supports the separation of scheduled (elective) and non-scheduled (emergency) care, leading to improved care for all patients. These elective facilities will provide routine treatments, procedures and consultations which have been scheduled in advance for non-emergency issues and which do not need an overnight stay. There are no in-patient beds; instead, patients arrive and leave on the same day. Patients move in a single, one-way direction from registration to preadmission, to the operating theatre, to state 1 recovery and/or stage 2 recovery bays as appropriate, from where they are discharged.
A long term masterplan is in place to relocate outpatient appointments away from the University Hospital Galway (UHG) campus, creating the space to concentrate acute, inpatient capacity there. As part of this, in 2025 a new outpatient building was opened at Merlin Park – allowing the freeing up of space at UHG. In parallel a Development Control Plan for UHG has been completed which comprises a number of major developments, to be delivered in a phased manner, providing meaningful additional capacity in a way which does not disrupt the ongoing operation of the hospital, including:
• New helipad
• Two new Ward Blocks, each providing 150 acute beds
• An Ambulatory Cancer Centre
• A new Laboratory Block
• A new Emergency, ICU and Surgical block
The new inpatient ward blocks will be the first phase of the UHG campus wide rebuild and expansion. Site clearance works, decanting and enabling works are already underway on the campus.
