The Health Minister has promised that a new process of designing elective hospitals will speed up delivery of the one earmarked for Merlin Park.

During a visit to Galway, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill visited University Hospital Galway (UHG), Merlin Park and the Lambe Institute at UHG where a donation of €4m from the National Breast Cancer Research Institute will be used to improve outcomes for women.

At Merlin Park she viewed the site of the new surgical hub, the proposed site for the elective hospital and the recently opened Outpatient Department.

In a statement welcoming the masterplans for UHG and Merlin Park, the Minister made no mention of timelines for the major projects planned for both campuses.

But in answer to a parliamentary question from Galway East TD Dr Martin Daly the same week, she said work in Galway including demolition and site clearance had begun, with the planning application to be submitted in September 2025. Engagement with planning authorities was underway.

She confirmed that the HSE had appointed a design team and project controls team at the end of 2024 for the four elective hospitals.

“The design team is also progressing detailed design and tender documents to commence procurement for the main works. The granting of full planning permission for the Cork and Galway main works, expected to be submitted next year, will determine when construction works can commence,” she told the Dáil.

The plans for all four will be progressed “using the principle of design once, build four times to optimise efficiencies, delivery timelines and value for money”. She was currently liaising with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan (NDP) Delivery and Reform, to secure the necessary funding through the NDP review.

“Engagement with planning authorities is under way on agreement in regard to the principle of design once, build four times. I really cannot overstate that there is no room for local variation or perspectives.

“This is about doing something in the most efficient way and also having the ability to move between the different elective hospitals without any difficulty whatsoever. These elective hospitals will alleviate pressure on major hospitals.

“We should not have elective capacity within an acute hospital, which should be for the treatment of significant illness and trauma. The disruption that can happen for various reasons in acute hospitals delays planned surgeries and takes up capacity that should be there for urgent and emergency care within the acute system.”

Construction has begun on the Galway surgical hub and is expected to open by June next year. When operating at full capacity the hub has the potential to carry out day case operations and minor surgical procedures from 8am to 8pm, six days a week.

Ann Cosgrove, Integrated Healthcare Area Manager for Galway and Roscommon stated that separating acute and non-acute services will greatly improve efficiency and better serve patients.

“The new surgical hub and elective hospital in Merlin Park are crucial developments which will change the way in which day cases, scheduled procedures, surgeries, scans and outpatient services can be better arranged across the region, ensuring greater capacity in the future and helping to address waiting times.”

The first phase of the outpatient unit in Merlin Park opened last year and the second phase is currently at design stage. Once outpatient services have fully transferred to Merlin Park, it will open up space for building two new ward blocks, each providing 150 acute beds, a cancer centre, a laboratory, a new Emergency Department, ICU and surgical block.

The masterplan has designated high volume, low complexity cases for Merlin Park while complex acute care, oncology, maternity and paediatric inpatient care will remain in UHG.

The €4m donation to the Lambe Institute will be used to improve diagnostics and fund a new digital tool to diagnose the types of breast cancer, which has never been used before in Ireland. It will also fund new researchers, staff and PhD students to run more clinical trials.

Pictured: Masterplan….Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill with Saolta CEO Tony Canavan.