WORK has started on a new €60million surgical hub in Limerick City, which will allow a significant increase in the number of surgeries that can be performed and reduce waiting times, particularly for day surgery.
The new medical complex is scheduled to open before the end of 2026 and will have two operating theatres and two procedure rooms, located at the former Scoil Carmel site on O’Connell Avenue in Limerick City.
It’s hoped that the new facility will cater for up to 150 patients a day.
The site was most recently used by the HSE as a Covid-19 vaccination centre.
The sale of the O’Connell Avenue site was only completed in December. It is understood a price in the region of €2.5m was paid.
The promised new hub has had a rocky road in the planning process.
More than 15 objections were raised by local residents in the area, some of whom said that when the school was used as a hub for Covid-19 vaccinations, people parked in front of gates and blocked them into their homes.
Others expressed concerns that the existing parking spaces are already taken up by people working in the city, making it more likely that people will park in places they aren’t supposed to.
One objector raised issues about a “serious road safety risk” caused by speeding vehicles when the site was used as a vaccination centre.
Limerick was confirmed as one of six nationwide locations for a surgical hub in December 2022 under government plans to improve access to scheduled care and meet ambitious waiting times targets set out in the 2017 Sláintecare Report.
Planning permission was granted in May 2024.
The new facility will improve access to day surgery in multiple surgical specialties for patients across the Mid West and will operate as a satellite of University Hospital Limerick (UHL), with key staff moving between both sites.
It is hoped the Limerick Surgical Hub will play a significant role in reducing surgical waiting lists in hospitals across the region, according to the HSE.
The new hub will also allow for greater separation between scheduled and unscheduled care, ring-fencing elective capacity which is frequently shelved to allow for emergency surgeries and admissions of medical patients through UHL’s emergency department.
Ian Carter, CEO Acute and Older Persons Services, HSE Mid West, said the development “will facilitate us in optimising the use of our theatres at UHL, Ennis, Nenagh, St John’s, and Croom and will ultimately contribute to improved patient outcomes and patient experience”.
