The government will include a new 96-bed unit at University Hospital Limerick in its new multi-year capital plan, but only if systems at the hospital improve.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told Clare FM the new beds are “necessary”, but has warned that practices at the hospital must improve so that taxpayers’ money is not wasted.
More details are expected when the new capital plan is published later this month.
A shortage of bed capacity has been highlighted as a key reason for overcrowding at the region’s main hospital, but in an interview to be broadcast on today’s edition of Morning Focus, Leo Varadkar said the state won’t fund the new unit without improvements.
And you can hear more from Leo Varadkar on local health services, and on other issues such as Shannon Airport and the Fine Gael election ticket in Clare on Morning Focus from 9:00 this morning.
