I recently questioned the CEO of the HSE Bernard Gloster at the Oireachtas Health Committee on the Capital plans for the University Hospital Galway site and the delays on progress
I welcome Mr. Gloster and his team. Mr. Gloster came before the committee on 27 September regarding capital infrastructure in Galway. At that stage, he said he had decided to:
… get a full project team with good, strong expert advice from outside as well as inside to the Saolta group and we would rapidly ensure the overall capital plan for Galway is set out in terms of all the requirements. From that, we would prioritise which part would come first …
He was talking about a period of a couple of weeks. He extended that period to a couple of months at a later meeting. What is the current situation regarding that plan?
The Secretary General and I went to Galway to meet the project board, which is chaired by the hospital executive. It has subject matter expertise from outside of the hospital, together with the estates function. It is now recruiting and finalising a full-time dedicated project director specifically for the capital plan for the Galway site. I have, as has the Department, made available to the board a resource allocation for it to hire the necessary subject matter expertise it needs to bring forward a plan. It is to be hoped that plan will materialise this summer and that can then go onto the capital priority list for Government and decision making. As the Senator can appreciate, it is a very extensive plan, given the deficits in the infrastructure in Galway which are well known and which I have been on the record as being behind the curve in terms of other hospitals.
Senator Seán Kyne
The work has not started yet.
Mr. Bernard Gloster
Work has not started on the building, but the board has started on the plan.
Senator Seán Kyne
I know work has not started on the building. Has the board started work on the plan? It is hiring consultants.
Mr. Bernard Gloster
Yes. The board has a certain amount of expertise internally and externally. We are giving it the resources to put in place a full-time project director, not just to come up with the plan but then the pursuit of its implementation. That would be an unusual intervention to make.
Senator Seán Kyne
Last September or October, Mr. Gloster gave the impression that there would be no delay. It is now March and work has not started. I heard from a report during the summer that work would start in September. I would believe it will start at Christmas at this stage, given the way things go. There is nothing physical. A detailed design has to be drawn up and planning applications have to be prepared. We are going backwards with projects in Galway.
Mr. Bernard Gloster
I would not necessarily accept that. The intervention we have made in terms of having a project board and director is out of the norm compared to what we have done with former regional hospitals. There is nothing stopping the board coming up with a plan; it is now about the time required to finalise it
Senator Seán Kyne
It still has to finalise the detailed design of the individual components, whichever component it decides to go for first—–
Mr. Bernard Gloster
We have in the past been accused of coming up short on detailed plans at the start of many major infrastructure projects. We then end up in trouble later. The overall site plan is critical. It will materialise and present a very credible basis for the Government to make decisions to invest. Obviously, there are other priorities for the Government.
Senator Seán Kyne
With the best will in the world, it will be next year before any application for the emergency department, maternity and paediatric labs or regional cancer centre would be lodged.
Mr. Bernard Gloster
The first thing we need to see is the overall site plan, which I believe we will have before the end of the summer.
Seán Kyne 