12 new beds open in Portiuncula University Hospital

12 beds - 8 single en suite rooms & 2 two bed rooms will nearly double single rooms available. The Outpatients Dept was moved and space used to build new single rooms for medical and surgical patients. More rooms means more capacity and to reduce waiting times - real impact for the people & families in the towns of Ballinasloe, Athlone and surrounding areas in Galway, Roscommon, Westmeath, Offaly, Tipperary.

Well done to hospital management teams, healthcare staff and construction crews - this €5 million projects will make a big difference for patients and families - keeping more people safe from infection as well as dignity and privacy for families.

People can see the construction of the 50 bed unit too at the back of the hospital and plans to have this open in 2024. Earlier this year, February 2023, I brought An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to visit Portiuncula University Hospital where he met management and healthcare teams. He visited the Emergency Department and saw the challenges for staff and crowded conditions for patients.

Working with Minister Stephen Donnelly & the Taoiseach’s office, I secured the expansion of Emergency Department in the HSE Capital Plan for 2023.

We urgently need a minimum of ten additional treatment bays. A tender to design this project will be shortly issued by Saolta and to acknowledge the work of General Manager James Keane & team at Portiuncula to get this project across the line.