Medical surgeries are to be carried out once again at Mount Carmel hospital in South Dublin, a decade after the State’s last private maternity hospital closed on the site.
The first phase of a new surgical hub at Mount Carmel will be complete in the coming months, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said on Monday.
The hub is one of six being developed around the State to focus on day-case surgeries, in advance of the construction of planned new elective-only hospitals.
The new hubs are modelled on the Reeves Day Surgery Centre at Tallaght University Hospital which is credited with substantially reducing waiting times for day-case procedures.
The Reeves centre, which is located across the road from the main hospital, operates weekdays from 7am to 8pm, running two surgical sessions per day in each theatre.
Mount Carmel operated as a maternity hospital from 1950 to 2014, when it closed due to financial difficulties. It was bought by the Health Service Executive that year and reopened as a short-stay rehabilitation hospital.
In north Dublin, Fingal County Council has granted planning permission for a surgical hub at the Swords Business Campus. The tender process is complete and work is due to get under way shortly.
Planning permission for a surgical hub at Merlin Park hospital in Galway has also been granted. A tender process is complete and contract is to be awarded.
Surgical hubs in Cork, Waterford and Limerick are in the planning process.
“We have now seen a second year in a row with a reduction in waiting lists and I am determined that we will see a further reduction in the number of patients waiting in 2024,” Mr Donnelly said. “The surgical hubs will add to our reduced waiting times for day-case procedures in 2024.”
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