Vol. 433 No. 7
54 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Health if he proposes to make financial provision for the establishment of a cardiac surgical unit at University College Hospital, Galway; if his attention has been drawn to the widespread public support and demand for this facility; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that there are 170 people from the west of Ireland on the waiting list for cardiac surgery; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The position is that cardiac surgery for public patients is performed in three locations — at the National Cardiac Unit at the Mater Hospital, Dublin, Cork Regional Hospital and at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin. Each patient is assessed by the consultant to determine his or her medical priority, and urgent cases always receive priority treatment.
My Department has recently undertaken an assessment of the medium-term requirements for additional cardiac surgery. I have decided that the annual capacity at the National Cardiac Surgery Unit at the Mater Hospital should be increased from 750 to 1,000 and I have provided £1 million in 1993 which will be met from the waiting list fund.
I am also providing for a doubling of capacity for cardiac surgery at Cork Regional Hospital from 200 to 400 patients each year. The combined increased capacity in both Dublin and Cork will mean a new national annual throughput of 1,400 cases in the public sector which represents an increase of 47 per cent on current capacity. I am satisfied that this increased level of service will be adequate to meet the medium-term requirements for cardiac surgery in Ireland.
I am aware that Croi, the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation, which is a local voluntary organisation dedicated to the development of cardiac services in the west, supports the development of a cardiac surgical unit in Galway.
