Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2023
544. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Health when a project team will be assigned in terms of delivery of a cancer centre of excellence within a Model 4 Hospital at Galway University Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31999/23]
View answerA team is already in place for the development of the cancer centre proposal at the University Hospital Galway (UHG). This team has prepared a Strategic Assessment Report in line with the requirements of the Public Spending Code (PSC). In March 2023 the PSC was further updated wherein the contents of the SAR will be subsumed into a new single SAR/Preliminary Business Case as part of efforts to streamline and expedite the progression of projects through the PSC, as appropriate.
Additional expertise will be brought into the team as the proposal moves through the various stages of the PSC and progresses to design, for example.
There are a number of capital investment proposals of significant scale on the UHG campus and some of these could be developed concurrently without affecting the delivery of services, subject to the fulfilment of PSC requirements and the availability of funding within the Department’s National Development Plan capital envelope. Replacement laboratories at UHG, a significant development in its own right, is an enabling project for the cancer centre proposals in terms of decanting currently occupied buildings and creating sufficient development space on the campus. This laboratory project will need to be completed in advance of the cancer centre development.
