Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 May 2024
38. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 51 of 29 February 2024, for an update on the development of the SAR/PBC by the project team and the Galway University Hospitals Capital Programme Oversight Board for the new emergency department, women and children's block in UHG; the expected timeline for it to move to pre-tender stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19533/24]
View answerGalway University Hospitals (GUH) is proposing a number of projects of significant scale on its University Hospital Galway (UHG) campus, including the new emergency department, women and children’s block. In order to ensure that capital investment works do not adversely impact the delivery of healthcare on the congested campus, a programmatic approach for the delivery of these projects is required.
To address this need, a Capital Programme Oversight Board was established by Saolta in September 2023. This Board has been tasked with developing a master plan from which all individual proposals on the UHG campus will flow, including the development of the new emergency department, women and children’s block.
In line with the requirements of the new Infrastructure Guidelines, which replaced the Public Spending Code, a Strategic Assessment Report (SAR)/ Preliminary Business Case (PBC) for the ED, women and children’s block must be developed. The first step in this process, the completion of the SAR, has been completed and the Department has provided its feedback to the HSE and the project team to inform the development of the SAR/PBC.
Saolta’s Capital Programme Oversight Board has been tasked with developing that SAR/PBC into a more integrated and strategic plan, incorporating the work of the Capital Programme Oversight Board master planning, from which all individual proposals will flow and be developed.
The submission of the SAR/PBC is dependent on the completion of the master planning for the UHG campus by Saolta’s Capital Programme Oversight Board and the sequencing of projects and works to unlock the necessary capacity on the campus.
Any SAR/PBC submitted must be subject to a Departmental review and independent external validation, including an external assurance process and presentation to D/PENDPDR’s Major Project Advisory Group, in line with Infrastructure Guidelines requirements. Satisfactory completion of this review process will enable Government consent to be sought to proceed to the next stage of the project development process- completion of the design, development of the pre-tender business case, and the statuary planning processes.
