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07 Sept 2025
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07 Sept 2025
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The new facility will have two operating theatres and two procedure rooms and will be located at the former Scoil Carmel site on O’Connell Avenue in Limerick city
Construction has commenced on a new Surgical Hub which, when complete, will significantly increase theatre capacity in the region and reduce the times patients currently wait for day surgery.
The €60 million complex will have two operating theatres and two procedure rooms and will be located at the former Scoil Carmel site on O’Connell Avenue in Limerick city. It is scheduled to come into operation before the end of 2026.
Limerick was confirmed as one of six locations for a surgical hub in December 2022 under government plans to improve access to scheduled care and meet ambitious waiting times targets set out in the Sláintecare Report (2017). Planning permission was granted in May 2024 and the construction phase is now progressing well, having commenced earlier this year.
The new facility will improve access to day surgery in multiple surgical specialties for patients across the Mid-West. It will operate as a satellite of University Hospital Limerick (UHL), with key staff moving between both sites.
In managing day case procedures that are relatively low acuity and high volume in their nature, the Limerick Surgical Hub will play a significant role in reducing surgical waiting lists in hospitals in Clare and across the region.
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The development of the Limerick Surgical Hub will also allow for greater separation between scheduled and unscheduled care, creating the ringfenced elective capacity to support the achievement of Sláintecare access targets.
This has become an increasing problem in the region’s acute hospitals in recent years with more frequent deferrals of elective surgery to accommodate medical patients admitted through the Emergency Department and time-critical and emergency surgery.
Ian Carter, CEO Acute and Older Persons Services, HSE Mid-West, said: “Once open, the Limerick Surgical Hub will enable us to reduce the number of patients waiting and will be one of the means by which we aim to achieve the Sláintecare target waiting time of 12 weeks for day cases. This development will facilitate us in optimising the use of our theatres at UHL, Ennis, Nenagh, St John’s and Croom and will ultimately contribute to improved patient outcomes and patient experience.”
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