Galway Bay fm newsroom - Additional bed capacity is to be rolled out at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe in a bid to deal with overcrowding.
This will involve the provision of a temporary modular out-patient department and the conversion of the existing out-patient unit into 14 single en-suite rooms.
Funding has been secured for the temporary OPD and it is expected that the project will be completed by the end of December 2020.
Roscommon/Galway TD Denis Naughton says that since June, the hospital has seen increases in trolley numbers as a direct result of changes to the bed reconfiguration due to COVID-19, which saw the hospital lose 10% of its inpatient capacity.
He says it's particularly significant that the conversion will include single en-suite rooms which will assist the hospital with isolation rooms and infection control.
Deputy Naughton says while the added capacity is welcome, it's disappointing that the beds will unlikely be in operation until next Spring.....
