Appropriate healthcare services in the Mid-West cannot continue to be treated as an afterthought by government, according to Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice said:<\/p>\n
\u201cOption C – the development of a Model 3 hospital with an emergency department in the Mid-West region – cannot be put on the long finger.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother ED is urgently needed, not a vague commitment to look at this option at some point down the line like we are hearing from government today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it is welcome that option A and B are being progressed, option C cannot be sidelined.<\/p>\n
\u201cOptions A and B propose expanding capacity at University Hospital Limerick on the Dooradoyle site and developing a second site nearby \u2013 but this alone will not address the needs of the entire region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now been three years since HIQA first stated that the absence of a Model 3 hospital in the region significantly impacted the effective workings of Limerick\u2019s ED – UHL continues to operate under extreme duress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government has been sitting on HIQA\u2019s report for months now, despite there being major issues in the region for almost two decades now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Mid-West is the only region in the country without a Model 3 hospital – this must be addressed as a matter of urgency. An incremental strategy will simply not suffice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also need to know how much capital funding will be allocated to the Mid-West.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunities in this region have consistently been let down and left behind \u2013 and after today\u2019s announcement, they will have more questions than answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the very least, people in the Mid-West deserve to be informed about what exactly is happening in their health service – the Minister must provide real clarity instead of today\u2019s evasiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n
December 16th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Appropriate healthcare services in the Mid-West cannot continue to be treated as an afterthought by government, according to Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice. Deputy Rice said: \u201cOption C – the development of a Model 3 hospital with an emergency department in the Mid-West region – cannot be put on the long finger. \u201cAnother ED […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,642,7,774],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release","category-uhl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n