Galway hospital surgical hub to open by end of 2026 as plans progress for elective hospital
The new surgical hub for the Merlin Park campus, in Galway city, is slated to open its doors by the end of 2026, while the elective hospital undergoes detailed design staging.
Galway East TD Seán Canney shared the update from a cabinet committee meeting held in July.
The Galway facility will be one of four new surgical hubs opening throughout the country, with Limerick, Cork and Waterford also expected to become operational this year. The expansion is part of a national initiative to separate elective care from emergency care in order to reduce waiting times and improve treatment access.
At the hub’s maximum capacity, the four new day theatres and two procedure rooms will have the bandwidth to see over 8,000 day-cases annually, and complete nearly 6,000 procedures.
The first two theatres for the new surgical hub are at “advanced stage[s]”, the HSE explained as they put forward a planning application to expand the first floor of the existing surgical hub. A decision on this is due this September.
The elective hospital building will be attached to the surgical hub building, Deputy Canney told the Irish Independent, but it remains a standalone entity.
The elective hospital will include eight day-case theatres, ten minor procedure rooms, and seven endoscopy suites.
A planning application for the elective hospital is expected in October 2026.