Expansion of University Hospital Waterford’s cath lab to seven days a boost for the South East

Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler TD, made the announcement on Wednesday morning, saying approval had been granted for additional staff to facilitate an expansion of cardiac services at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) to cover weekends.

“I can confirm that 19.5 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff positions have been approved to facilitate the extension of Cath Lab hours to a seven-day, 8am to 8pm service,” said the Waterford Minister. “The current service in place across both Cath Labs at UHW is 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. The next big step is the provision of a weekend service, which is now a reality following confirmation of these additional staff posts this morning.

“This allocation of additional staff includes two Senior Cardiac Physiologists, a Consultant Cardiologist, two Clinical Nurse Managers, two Senior Radiographers, eight General Staff Nurses as well as two Clerical Officers, Porters (1.5) and one Health Care Assistant.”

Minister Butler continued: “Based on previous engagements I have had with management at UHW, I am assured that this extra staff, combined with the impending extension of hours, will likely cover 90pc of all potential cases, once in place.

“This is obviously very reassuring to the public and is also an indication of how far we have come since the days of the 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday service.

“This has been a hugely personal issue to me since entering national politics as a TD in 2016. Since the Taoiseach appointed me as a Minister of State at the Department of Health in July 2020, this has been my number one priority.

“I have worked closely since then alongside the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly and other Government colleagues, to accelerate the expansion of our Cath Lab hours to this point.

“It is vital that we now secure the most highly qualified people to fill these additional staff positions. Having spoken with General Manager, Ben O’Sullivan, I’m advised that UHW will be tenacious when it comes to recruitment in this respect.

“As always I want to commend the very hardworking staff and management for their ongoing stellar efforts in making UHW one of the leading hospitals in the country,” concluded Minister Butler.

Waterford Fine Gael Senator John Cummins said he also welcomed this development for UHW.

Speaking on the announcement Senator Cummins stated: “This is really positive news for the people in Waterford and the South East region.

"Securing weekend cardiac services is something which my government colleagues and I have been determined to deliver upon. This has been a long time in the works but ultimately the foundations for this announcement lie in the decision by Minister Harris in October 2018 to proceed with the approval of the second Cardiac Cath lab against the advice of senior departmental officials.

“That decision was the correct one and came on foot of immense lobbying both within and outside of the political domain. The construction of the second Cath lab at UHW commenced in May 2021 and was completed by Tom Obrien construction in December 2022.

“It has been operational alongside the newly refurbished first Cath lab on an 8am-8pm Monday to Friday basis since September last year.”

Senator Cummins added: “I’m delighted that the staffing which we as government representatives said was secured as part of the new 2,068 Whole Time Equivalents (WTE) for 2024 has been confirmed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) today.

“There were some voices trying to cast doubt on this commitment in recent times saying that the 14 WTE requested in the business case would not be included in the service plan due to the moratorium.

“The reality is 19.5 WTEs have now been secured and UHW management will commence recruitment to ensure this vital weekend service can be put in place in the shortest timeframe possible.

“I totally appreciate that there will be some that say this is still not 24/7, however from previous engagement with Cardiologists and management on this issue they would have said that an 8am-8pm seven day service would cover 90-95pc of all cardiac cases so this is a major milestone for the expansion of cardiac care in the South East,” added Senator Cummins.

Earlier in the week, Independent Waterford TD Matt Shanahan had hit out at the Government parties for promises made in relation to cardiac care in the south east.

“Like people across the South East, I do not want any more promises, studies or reports, nor do I care about being proven right— rather, I simply want this vital service available to people across the region,” he said before Wednesday's announcement.