Exclusive: Weekend cardiac coverage to commence soon at UHW
University Hospital Waterford has just completed the recruitment stage for weekend cardiac coverage with a commencement date to be announced this week "based on start dates" for the new staff members, Waterford News & Star can report.
University Hospital Waterford has just completed the recruitment stage for weekend cardiac coverage with a commencement date to be announced this week "based on start dates" for the new staff members, Waterford News & Star can report.
Emergency cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford is currently limited in operation to weekdays, excluding bank holidays. UHW has two catheterisation laboratories which operate from 8am to 8pm and 8am to 6pm respectively.
University Hospital Waterford received approval to begin recruitment to enable the operation of the emergency cardiac service 7 days per week from 8am to 8pm in September last year but faced recruitment challenges. The last update from the service was in November, saying that recruitment was "underway.”
However, in a statement to Waterford News & Star, a spokesperson for the Health Service Executive revealed that UHW has just completed the recruitment for the weekend service; "University Hospital Waterford has completed their recruitment in the last 7 days with a commencement date for the 7-day service to be agreed this week based on start dates from the recently recruited members of the team."
The Tánaiste Micheál Martin revealed in Dáil Éireann in October that University Hospital Waterford was hiring "18 new staff for weekend cover".
The recruitment phase of the process hit delays in Q3 last year despite Minister of State Mary Butler saying that it was her “expectation” that cardiac coverage would begin by the start of November.
"Our expectation was that we would see weekend coverage in place by the start of next month, but I am hesitant to give out timelines,” Minister Butler said in a Dáil debate at the start of October. “Sometimes issues can arise which are no one’s fault, they are just issues which can occur as part of any recruitment process.”
Waterford News & Star revealed in November, that the recruitment was stalled due to a number of the 18 posts needing to be filled to resource the weekend service, requiring a derogation from the HSE due to the roles being filled by internal candidates. The positions those candidates would be vacating had to be backfilled before the staff could take up the new positions.
At the time, Minister Mary Butler said she had “worked closely with UHW General Manager Ben O'Sullivan” to secure the sanction from the government for the backfilling of those roles. The approval was granted on October 16, 2024.
Minister of State Mary Butler said that the commencement of 8-to-8 cardiac care seven days a week would amount to “90-95% coverage of all cases. From there, it will take another final push at the Department of Health to reach the magic number of 100%.”
The commencement of the service comes as the latest step forward in the 8-year campaign to achieve comprehensive cardiac coverage in Waterford.
