The Taoiseach has admitted that the amount of money allocated to University Hospital Waterford in the government's 2023 Capital Plan may need review.
Leo Varadkar was challenged on the allocation in the Dail this week by Waterford Independent TD Matt Shanahan.
UHW received just €7m, with hospitals in Cork, Galway and Limerick receiving at least 8 times the Waterford allocation.
Addressing the Dail, Deputy Shanahan made the case for why University Hospital Waterford should have received further funding.
"The Government recently announced the HSE capital infrastructure programme of €1.1 billion in spending. In the programme, the Government has given more than €90 million to each of the five Dublin hospitals, €55 million to Cork, €54 million to Limerick, and €64 million to Galway. To University Hospital Waterford, which is the busiest hospital in the country for the past four months, the only hospital last year to reduce its waiting lists by 20%, and the hospital with the best metrics in accident and emergency department times and presentations, the Government has awarded €7 million. Of that, there is no allocation for beds."
Deputy Shanahan criticised Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, and believes dysfunction has been rewarded elsewhere.
"The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has spent the past 15 months coming to Waterford and applauding the performance of that hospital, yet in this capital spend programme he has penalised it while rewarding dysfunction in other hospitals around the country. Will the Taoiseach have a look at the capital allocation to University Hospital Waterford? We are waiting now on a consultant's report for more than 15 months to give us a funding programme for beds. The most recent bed delivery there was in 2016 and we badly need a proper and fair allocation of resources."
In response, the Taoiseach praised UHW and said the matter will be looked into in future.
"I thank the Deputy. University Hospital Waterford is one of the best-performing hospitals in the country", said Varadkar. "It has seen overcrowding go down and waiting lists shortened and has very much risen to the challenge given what happened in Wexford with the fire there. I am glad to see the emergency department will reopen in Wexford next week. I believe hospitals which perform well should be rewarded. This is a matter I have asked my team to examine at the moment."
"I am keen to see any healthcare projects which have planning permission, are shovel-ready and are ready to go proceeding as soon as possible. There are about 500 projects in the system, by the way, so it is not the case that every project can proceed immediately. That is just not possible but certainly, those which have planning permission should proceed to tender as soon as possible. My team are currently engaging both with the Department of Health and with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform."
