UHL needs whole of Government support
UHL needs whole of Government support - The Labour Party
The Labour Party’s Alan Kelly TD and Conor Sheehan TD have welcomed the announcement of the acquisition of land at Raheen to facilitate a new hospital campus in Limerick.
Speaking today, Deputy Sheehan said the ball is firmly in the Government’s court to make sure this piece of critical infrastructure is supported and facilitated.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“The issues in UHL are well documented, today alone there were 108 patients without a bed. It has been plagued by overcrowding for years, and it is welcome to finally see announcement of a site for the expansion of the hospital.
“The Minister needs to move at speed now to make sure that this hospital is progressed and delivered for the Mid West.
“There were three options set out in the HIQA report – expanding bed capacity at UHL, extending the hospital campus to include a second site, or building a new Model 3 hospital in the region.
“With this announcement, the Minister must clearly state how option B will evolve into option C with clear timelines for the development of a brand new model 4 hospital.
“The ball is firmly in the court of Minister Jack Chambers and his Department. DPER must become an enabler, not a blocker, of this critical piece of infrastructure. He needs to confirm to the people of Limerick that he as a Minister will do whatever it takes to get this project up and running and completed.
“For too long, warnings have been ignored, and it is patients and frontline staff who are paying the price.
“This new hospital must be included in the HSE capital plan with urgency to finally give people in the Mid West the health service we need and deserve.”
Labour’s Alan Kelly TD said:
“I’ve been fighting against the downgrading and subsequent lack of services in the Mid West literally my whole political career. At last we see that a new model 4 hospital will be built and delivered for people in the Mid West region.
“Government must make it crystal clear that this project has cross-government support, and that DPER will very much own this project.
“Just delivering a 100 bed unit in Raheen will not be acceptable on its own. It needs to be a model 4 hospital that is built in stages: the bed block, then transferring the maternity hospital all the way to a mode 4 hospital. Nothing less will do.
“After years of hard work to see this project get over the line, we can’t let anything hold us back on delivering this critical piece of infrastructure.”