Galway Bay fm newsroom – The HSE has confirmed that a long-awaited new orthopaedic theatre building at Merlin Park is considered an essential construction project and will move foward as planned.
It's as construction sites across the country closed in December for everything except essential projects.
The project at Merlin Park will involve two additional operating theatres for elective orthopaedic procedures, with the existing theatre to be retained and used for less complex cases.
The theatres at Merlin Park were shut down in 2017 due to a leaking roof which led to urgent calls to address the issue due to growing patient lists.
The project faced various setbacks with planning issues and various measures were taken to maintain activity levels in the interim, including the transfer of some elective procedures to UHG.
It's expected that work on the new theatre will begin shortly and the project is currently expected to be completed before the end of the year.
