I listened with interest to a report on RTÉ's "Morning Ireland" last Wednesday. The report outlined how health administrators and hospitals are asking people to use minor injury units where possible to avoid having to go to busy emergency departments. People attending one such unit in Smithfield in Dublin were glowing in their praise for the speed with which they were being seen and treated for minor injuries and ailments. They compared the experience with their previous experiences of spending hours waiting to be seen at hospital emergency departments.

That unit is one of 11 minor injury units dotted throughout the country that were designed to take the pressure off emergency departments. They deal with broken bones, dislocations, sprains, minor scalds and burns. I know from speaking to staff on a visit to the unit in Roscommon that it takes an average of 55 minutes from the time a person comes in the door until he or she goes back out having been seen and treated. I also know from a visit to the emergency department at University Hospital Galway that patients sitting in the waiting room for hours on end face a screen that pops up with a message advising them to use their local minor injury unit as a speedy alternative to the emergency department. It is good advice, but for the fact that Galway is the only major urban area in the country that actually does not have such a unit.

I have raised this matter before in the House. The first time was during Leaders' Questions two years ago with the then Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny. As recently as March of this year I raised it with the current Taoiseach. At the time, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, agreed that there was merit in my suggestion for such a unit to be opened at Merlin Park University Hospital in Galway. He added:

It works in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. Why would it not work in Galway, therefore? I will certainly appraise the proposal and discuss it with the Minister for Health and the HSE.

Unfortunately, I am still waiting to see the proposal being acted upon. The idea is what we could call a no-brainer. More than 60,000 people every year are crowding into the cramped and outdated emergency department at University Hospital Galway. Three quarters of them are discharged after being seen and treated without being admitted to hospital. Most of the 45,000-plus people would benefit from the availability of the option to go to a minor injuries unit where they could be seen and treated in a fraction of the time it takes today. As the Taoiseach put it, there are injury units in Dublin Limerick and Cork - there are two more in Cork county - why not Galway?

University Hospital Galway is one of the busiest hospitals in the country with ever-increasing waiting lists and growing numbers spending nights on trolleys in the corridors of the emergency department. All of these people would benefit from a minor injuries unit. If funding were allocated, it could be up and running next year. When will the Government stop paying lip service to the idea and actually follow up with action to provide a minor injuries unit for Galway, based at Merlin Park University Hospital?

I thank Deputy Grealish for raising this issue. Approval was given in May 2017 to the Saolta University Health Care Group, which oversees the hospital system in the west and north west of the country, to conduct an options appraisal for future acute hospital needs in Galway. As the Deputy is aware, the Galway University Hospitals operate over two sites, including the model 4 hospital and the Merlin Park site. It is important that services planning is done in an integrated manner between both sites.

As part of the options appraisal the Saolta group will undertake a medium-term planning project to assess the population health needs for the hospital catchment area to inform existing and future service needs. The assessment will provide an options appraisal for the infrastructural requirements needed in Galway to facilitate the delivery of safe high-quality timely acute elective and cancer care for patients throughout the west and north west. This assessment will outline a comprehensive plan to address requirements for unscheduled and scheduled cancer and maternity-paediatric care, including key enabling diagnostic and support functions. The new emergency department block envisaged under Project Ireland 2040 will also be considered in the context of the options appraisal.

Saolta University Health Care Group has advised that the options appraisal will be completed in the first quarter of 2019. I am advised by the HSE that there are no specific plans at present to develop a minor injuries unit at Merlin Park. However, there is continued focus on ensuring that Merlin Park capacity is used to ease pressure on emergency acute and complex elective care at University Hospital Galway, which is the issue Deputy Grealish is raising. The Galway University Hospitals continue to review patient services suitable for transfer to Merlin Park. Similarly, administrative logistical and support functions that are not location-sensitive may be redeveloped at Merlin Park University Hospital.

I am also advised that Saolta University Health Care Group is working with the HSE to examine the potential for development of a day services hospital block at Merlin Park subject to the usual capital approval processes. A full appraisal is under way. It is to be finalised in the first quarter of next year. The issue Deputy Grealish has raised today will be very much factored into those considerations.

I asked the Tánaiste to provide a minor injuries unit on the grounds of Merlin Park University Hospital. There are 11 such units throughout the country in major urban cities. University Hospital Galway services the west. At one point the Tánaiste said there were no plans to build a unit, but then he said it would be considered in the report or appraisal that will be carried out.

It is time to get off the pot and provide one of these units for Galway. The emergency department in UHG is one of the worst in the country. Week after week it has the greatest number of people on trolleys, and the Government is doing nothing about it. The Government says it will build a new emergency department. That has been going on since I got elected to the Dáil in 2002 and still it is not being built. The Government is talking about the proposal to build a new hospital in Merlin Park. I will be dead and buried before that happens. Let us be honest and fair about that.

All I am asking is for a minor injuries unit. These units work successfully. I visited the unit in Roscommon and I was impressed with it. I call on the Tánaiste to give a firm commitment now that a minor injuries unit will be built on the grounds of Merlin Park University Hospital without delay. The buildings are in place. It is only a matter of kitting out one of the units and putting in place two consultants and several nurses. We could take 60% of the people attending the accident and emergency unit in University Hospital Galway. I call on the Tánaiste to give a commitment that the Government will provide a unit for Galway. Why should Galway be different from any other major city in the country?

I hear what Deputy Grealish is saying. A full appraisal is going on right now - it has almost concluded - to ensure that the necessary health infrastructure in both sites of the Galway University Hospitals is factored in as part of capital investment in the future.

There is a commitment by the Government to build a new emergency department in Galway. That will be followed through. However, for me to make commitments on the floor of the Dáil when there is an appraisal that is almost completed-----

The Tánaiste said it will not be built.

I am saying that I am advised that there are no specific plans at present because the appraisal process has not concluded yet. We have not made a commitment in advance of that appraisal being finalised. That is the context in which the Department of Health will make further commitments for Galway. I hear the points the Deputy has made and they are not unreasonable. There are successful minor injuries units in other parts of the country that take pressure off accident and emergency departments. The appraisal process will conclude in the next couple of months and we need to factor in that thinking when considering future investment in Galway.