Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has announced that the Health Service Executive (HSE) has reached another key milestone in progressing new Regional Elective Hospitals.

The HSE has released a "request for tender" for Phase 1 of the upcoming elective hospitals in Cork and Galway. This tender seeks an Architect-led Design Team to deliver architectural, design, and engineering services, alongside a Project Control Team to aid the HSE in overseeing, managing, and administering the design and construction schedule. The HSE aims to have these teams established by the summer.

The selected sites for the developments are at St Stephen's Hospital, Sarsfield Court in Cork, and Merlin Park in Galway.

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The Design and Project Control Teams will develop on the work carried out to date on these significant new facilities. The new Elective Hospitals will be separate from existing hospitals and only carry out planned elective surgery, procedures and treatments. This separation of elective from emergency and critical care will lead to fewer cancellations and delays for elective care caused by seasonal surges, localised outbreaks and surges in emergency attendances. This increase in capacity will be key to tackling waiting lists and reducing waiting times for public patients.

The development of an elective hospital in Dublin is also progressing smoothly, with the Minister set to present a Memorandum to the Government soon, offering an update on the site and the current progress.

As part of the wider Elective Care Programme and before the delivery of Elective Hospitals, the HSE is currently developing six new Surgical Hubs at sites across the country. Two Surgical Hubs in Dublin (Swords and Mt Carmel) are set to be operational this year, with those in Limerick, Waterford, Cork and Galway becoming operational in 2025. These are modelled on the successful Reeves Day Surgery Unit at Tallaght which has significantly reduced waiting times for a number of elective procedures.