Wexford General Hospital fire
Verona Murphy raised the impact of the Wexford General Hospital fire and the expected delay in reopening the emergency department. The Taoiseach said he had visited the hospitals involved, described pressure on nearby services, and outlined temporary mitigations.
Last week, the elected representatives from Wexford met with the management of Wexford General Hospital. The Taoiseach will be aware there was a fire some three weeks ago. I heard Deputy Shanahan’s question to the Taoiseach this morning. It has put significant pressure on University Hospital Waterford. The difficulty is that Dr. Yousif, who is the sub-director, confirmed yesterday morning on South East Radio that it would be four to six weeks before the emergency department opened in Wexford again. I spoke with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, who gave a commitment that we would all work collectively. What is being asked for at this point is a meeting with the Minister and, equally, that we fast-track an emergency provision for the 97-bed unit to go under construction now, as we put the restorative process and building works in place. That would provide an extra 47 beds for Wexford.
Comment on this
I was in Wexford General Hospital and University Hospital Waterford in the past two weeks since the fire and I had a chance to speak to the management, doctors and other healthcare staff there about the situation. It is putting huge pressure on University Hospital Waterford, St. Luke's General Hospital Kilkenny and other hospitals. Part of what is happening is that a minor injuries unit has been reopened in the hospital. There is a new 22-bed ward opening in Kilcreene Regional Orthopaedic Hospital Kilkenny to help out as well. Patients are being repatriated to Wexford too. Staff are being transferred. Mowlam Healthcare, a nursing home in Tramore, is being used as well.
If it is possible to do a modular unit or to do something to provide additional capacity, we should do it. I gave that indication to the management when I was there. The emergency rules that applied during the Covid-19 period no longer do. The advice we got from the Attorney General on that is not favourable. I know people for very good reasons feel that all these things are emergencies, but everything cannot always be an emergency, and Covid-19 was a particular set of circumstances.