There has been a lot of debate in recent times about the state of our health services, with growing waiting lists, emergency department overcrowding and more. What may be missed in the middle of all of this talk is by how much services in the western and north-western part of Ireland lag behind those in the rest of the country. A capacity review carried out by the Saolta University Health Care Group in 2019 found that almost two thirds, or 64%, of the infrastructure at the region's biggest hospital, University Hospital Galway, UHG, was classified as either not satisfactory or unacceptable. In the case of its sister hospital at Merlin Park in the city, the figure increased to a shocking 95%. During 2022, waiting lists for inpatient and outpatient pain relief treatment in Galway increased by 75%, while the rest of the country only saw a tiny increase of just 1% in such waiting lists. The numbers in Galway waiting for 18 months or more, many in severe pain, are now more than three times greater than this time last year, while the rates in the rest of the country dropped by almost one fifth. In specialties such as orthopaedics, the experience of the patients in Galway falls well short of what is happening in the rest of the country.

The west of Ireland currently has the lowest survival rate in Ireland for breast and lung cancer. This is in a country that had the highest rates of cancer in the EU 27 in 2020. Experts in the field point out that late diagnosis leads to poorer patient outcomes. The facilities for the treatment of cancer in Galway are not fit for purpose. Cancer patients are competing with elective and emergency patients for vital life-saving treatment. I welcome the recent announcement that a new cancer care centre at UHG is to be included in the HSE's national service plan this year. I want to compliment Professor Michael Kerin for his excellent work on this project and I hope it will be progressed as a matter of urgency. We need similarly urgent action to be taken in relation to the rest of the health services in Galway and the west. At the very least, we must bring them up to a standard that is fit for purpose. The west is starved of proper services and I am calling for a task force to look at what is going wrong with the health services in the region and what needs to be done to improve them.

The Taoiseach may point out that a new elective hospital is to be built on the grounds of Merlin Park University Hospital in Galway but how long will it take for that to become a reality? Realistically, it could take 15 years or more, given that the recently-opened radiotherapy unit in Galway took over 14 years to deliver. There are many instances in the provision of health services where Galway and the west are falling well behind the rest of the country. What are the Government's plans to improve the delivery of healthcare to the people of Galway and the west of Ireland to bring it up to an acceptable standard? Will the Taoiseach ensure that proper resources are put in place?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht a chuid ceisteanna.

Ar dtús ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil lenár bhfoireann sláinte go léir as ucht an cúram atá á sholáthar acu inár n-ospidéil agus sa phobal le linn tréimhse an-ghnóthach. Sin é an fáth go bhfuil líon na leapacha ospidéil á mhéadú againn; tá an buiséid sláinte is mó riamh againn; agus tá níos mó dochtúirí, altraí agus foireann cabhrach ag obair inár n-ospidéil in iarthar na Gaillimhe agus i ngach cuid den tír. I agree with the Deputy on one important point, which is that we need to invest in our health services all over the country but also in the west of Ireland.

I share his frustration that so many important projects in the west have been delayed, particularly the emergency department and the paediatric and maternity units at University Hospital Galway, UHG, which should have been under construction by now, let alone have gone to planning. That is something I will be pursuing with the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, over the course of the year so that we get those projects up and running. I am aware, of course, that there are other important projects that need to be advanced as well, such as the medical assessment units in Sligo and Castlebar and also the cancer centre the Deputy mentioned.

As Deputies will know, the Saolta University Health Care Group covers six hospitals in the west and north-west region and serves a very significant population, covering more than 830,000 people. We need to plan for a population of 1 million in that region in the course of the next 20 years. That is the way we should see it, not as a number of counties or cities but also as a region of 1 million people that should have the kind of health services and specialist services it deserves. The combined budget for the hospital group is more than €1 billion and that is an increase of 24% in five years. I recognise the importance of investment and we are committed to working with the HSE, the hospital group and individual hospitals to make sure that happens.

As regards cancer services, cancer survival rates have increased significantly in the past two decades in Ireland and continue to improve, as we know from the national healthcare quality reporting system. When it comes to lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death in men and women in Ireland, our five-year survival rates are now above the OECD average, and the same goes for breast cancer. In the HSE west area, the survival rate for lung cancer is 16.5%, compared with 17.1% nationally, a gap of 0.6%. The survival rate for the HSE west region for breast cancer is 82.5%, compared with 82.9% nationally, a gap of 0.4%. It is important to say there are many factors, not just one, that may give rise to this discrepancy.

As regards the elective hospitals we are building as part of the Sláintecare reform plans, we are committed to them but we are realistic that it will be 2027 or 2028 before patients will be seen in those hospitals and we need interim measures. That is why we are working on the surgical hubs, for example, which will help to bring down wait times in the meantime.

I thank the Taoiseach but, given the track record of the HSE, I cannot see that happening. I appreciate there has been some investment and there are plans for further investment in health services in Galway and the west but the region is still lagging behind the rest of the country and needs much more. I have raised previously the need for a minor injuries unit in Galway. I visited the excellent facility in Roscommon and I was extremely impressed with the efficient way in which it deals with everything from broken bones, lacerations, sprains and strains to minor scalds and burns. There are 15 of these minor injuries units across the country, helping to relieve the pressure on busy hospital emergency departments, but there is none in Galway. The emergency department at UHG remains one of the busiest in the country, without the relief that would be provided by thousands of people being redirected to a minor injuries unit. Can the Taoiseach give a commitment that a minor injury unit will be built in Galway to help to alleviate the pressure on UHG?

Almost all regions of the country would say they are underfunded or under-resourced when it comes to healthcare. The Deputy has made the case very strongly today for the west. I have heard Deputy Shanahan, who is sitting beside him, make the same case for the south east on many occasions and many of my colleagues have made the same case to me in respect of the mid west only a few weeks ago. Where the truth lies and where the balance of resources and funding is located is quite opaque. That is one of the reasons we need to move towards population-based funding in healthcare and that is very much part of the Government's reform programme. I have seen minor injury units work extremely well across the country. I cannot give the Deputy a commitment here that we are going to do what he says but I think they make a big difference and I have seen them work extremely well in all parts of the country, with people with minor injuries not having to go to very busy and crowded emergency departments and, more important, people with minor injuries who need to be seen and to receive healthcare getting that healthcare in an uncrowded and more humane setting within a few hours. We are happy to give consideration to a minor injury unit for Galway but I am not at liberty to make that commitment here and now. We will certainly take it seriously, however.