A MASSIVE 43-acre site outside Limerick City marked for the expansion of hospital and health services near University Hospital Limerick has been bought by the HSE for €14million.
However Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who came to Limerick this Tuesday (March 10) to announce the acquisition of the sizeable site in Raheen, said she could not give specific answers about the provision of a second emergency department for the region, as this would be a matter for a project board which she is to appoint.
The Minister said she wants “the most ambitious proposals possible” for the site, aiming to address “all of the recommendations of the HIQA report and go beyond them”.
The project board will comprise national and regional clinical and management representatives to develop a vision for healthcare in the region.
The board will consider the delivery of acute services across Limerick and the development of two hospital campuses, the Minister revealed.
A formal delivery plan for short, medium, and long-term services in the Mid West is expected to be presented to the Government and the public this coming autumn.
The site, larger than St James’s Hospital in Dublin and comparable to Beaumont Hospital, will support two hospital campuses.
As well as drawing up a plan for the future of the strategic site, the project board is to develop a regional healthcare plan, focusing on immediate improvements like cancer services in Ennis and Nenagh.
The Minister said the acquisition is part of a broader vision to centralise acute services and leverage the region’s expertise in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and life sciences, aiming for advanced oncology trials and economic growth over the next 30 years.
Making the announcement, the Minister said there is now “the opportunity for not one but two acute hospital campuses delivering services for the people of this region”.
“Ultimately I see, 30 years from now, patients from across the Mid West participating in clinical trials for the most advanced oncology drugs, because of the particular juxtaposition of services, hospital services, of research, of the research institute, and of the ecosystem of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and life sciences that happens to be in this region already.”
She added that the development of the site will also be a reason for more inward investment in Limerick and the Mid West region.
Mayor of Limerick John Moran welcomed the announcement, saying that “better healthcare facilities are long overdue”.
“We’ve welcomed the new Bons Secours hospital, new beds at UHL, the cancer centre in Moyross and surgical hub on O’Connell Avenue, but this is the most important of all. I want to congratulate the Minister and our local HSE leadership for getting this over the line.”
“I’ve worked hard with the leaders of the HSE to help prove to others the need for this facility and to identify and secure lands before anyone else could snap them up. But not just any lands – lands which were perfectly suited operationally close to the existing UHL, which worked with our own LCCC plans for the growth of Limerick, close to the road network but more importantly right on our new Adare/Foynes rail line.”
Limerick TD and Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan, who officially opened the new private Bon Secours Hospital facility earlier this week said the land acquisition “is a very important step forward for healthcare in Limerick and across the Mid West”.
“Securing a site of this scale close to University Hospital Limerick will allow for the planning and delivery of much-needed additional capacity to support patients and frontline staff.”
Speaking after attending the Minister’s announcement, Mayor John Moran said he had been in talks with the HSE to provide modular homes, alongside a proposed rail link, on a 70-acre site in Patrickswell the Council is to purchase, which he believes could be used by staff at the proposed new Raheen campus.
The lands “are basically located either side of” the Raheen site, the Mayor said.
“With the smart homes, that we have also offered to the HSE, if it takes them 15 to 20 years to use up some of their site, we can put smart homes on it and actually have housing right on the site. We are all working together in the background to make this all happen,” the Mayor said.
Limerick Labour TD Conor Sheehan urged the Health Minister to “move at speed now to make sure that this hospital is progressed and delivered for the Mid West”.
“The ball is firmly in the court of Minister Jack Chambers and his Department. DPER must become an enabler, not a blocker, of this critical piece of infrastructure. He needs to confirm to the people of Limerick that he as a Minister will do whatever it takes to get this project up and running and completed.”
Not all were happy with the news, with the Friends of Ennis Hospital campaign pointing out that almost 30 per cent of the HSE Mid West catchment of 500,000 people currently reside in Clare, hitting out at the continued extended travel times for patients “well over the golden hour for treatment in an acute emergency”.
They called on Mayor Moran and the Health Minister to visit west Clare to experience the travel times for themselves.