Hospital ‘unfit and unsafe’, 200 doctors tell minister
Current facilities ‘not fit for purpose’
ALMOST 200 consultant doctors have written to Health Minister Simon Harris warning that one of the country’s busiest hospitals is not safe, and unfit for purpose.
The letter was written by the chief clinical director of the Saolta University Healthcare Group, Dr Pat Nash, and was signed by every consultant working at University Hospital Galway.
It contained scathing criticism of ‘ageing facilities’ at UHG, which it described as ‘neither adequate nor safe’ for the delivery of high-quality healthcare.
The group of consultants called for the development of a new acute hospital in Galway ‘to safely manage the healthcare needs of the region’. An options appraisal in respect of hospital facilities in Galway has since been sanctioned by Mr Harris.
The letter to the Health Minister said current facilities at UHG are ‘not fit for purpose and do not provide an appropriate environment to safely manage’ patient care.
‘We urgently request that you consider our proposal as the current ageing facilities are not fit for purpose either in capacity or structure to meet current and future care requirements,’ it continued.
The correspondence suggested that plans for a new emergency department at the hospital will be of limited benefit in solving the overcrowding crisis.
‘The proposed new emergency department will provide badly needed infrastructure and space for the current inadequate and overwhelmed department, but will not address the serious infrastructural and capacity deficits across the UHG campus,’ it stated.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said ‘very significant efforts have been made, and continue to be made... to increase capacity and to improve service provision in University Hospital Galway’.
The spokesperson pointed to a number of completed projects at UHG in recent years include the clinical research facility, the upgrade to the Maternity Unit and the cystic fibrosis out-patient department.
Construction of a new 75-bed ward block was completed in November 2016, the spokesperson added.