Waterford Fine Gael Senator John Cummins welcomed the confirmation of an additional 19.5 WTE posts for University Hospital Waterford (UHW) which will see Cardiac Care hours extended to weekends for the first time.
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”.
He 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 WTE’s 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”.
Senator Cummins concluded by saying “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 90-95% of all cardiac cases so this is a major milestone for the expansion of cardiac care in the South East”.