No clarity on timeline for extra elective capacity in Midlands

Fine Gael TD for Offaly John Clendennen has expressed frustration at continuing delays in determining how additional elective healthcare capacity will be provided for the Midlands.

He was speaking after raising the issue again on Wednesday with senior health officials at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery.

Deputy Clendennen has repeatedly raised the need for additional elective capacity in the Midlands since December 2025.

At that time, in an exchange with An Tánaiste, Simon Harris during a question on policy or legislation, it was advised that the HSE would conduct an analysis and develop an action plan, including consideration of expressions of interest to examine possibilities for new or additional capacity in the Midlands.

The issue was subsequently raised again by Deputy Clendennen in January and March.

Deputy Clendennen said, “We are now at the end of September, and I am still asking the same fundamental question I was asking last December: what additional elective capacity is going to be provided for the Midlands and when?

“Earlier this year we were told that an initial scoping exercise was being undertaken to inform an action plan.

Speaking on Wednesday, he said: “Today I was informed that work examining the wider Leinster region, including the Midlands, is continuing and is expected to take another eight to ten weeks.

“That is simply not the progress I expected to see at this stage, particularly considering the priority being given to the delivery of key infrastructure projects.”

Deputy Clendennen said the need for additional elective capacity must be considered alongside the pressures being experienced by existing hospitals in the region including Tullamore, Mullingar and Portlaoise.

During Wednesday’s Committee exchange, health officials said the ongoing work is examining population and demographic trends, waiting lists, clinical capacity and the specialties which could be accommodated within an elective or surgical hub model.

“Tullamore Hospital has demonstrated what can be achieved in emergency care but maintaining that performance cannot come at the expense of elective patients who are waiting for treatment," Deputy Clendennen said.

“The Midlands is a growing region. We have significant existing hospital infrastructure and considerable clinical expertise, but the region has been omitted from the locations identified for the current surgical hub programme.

“Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford Sligo and Letterkenny have all featured in the development of additional surgical hub capacity. It is entirely reasonable for people in Offaly and across the Midlands to ask where their additional elective capacity is going to come from.”

Deputy Clendennen also pressed officials on the commitment previously given regarding expressions of interest for additional Midlands capacity.

“I specifically asked today where the expression-of-interest process referred to in the earlier commitment now stands. I did not receive that answer.

“When commitments and timelines are given in Dáil Éireann, there has to be accountability around them.

“This isn’t about announcing a project for the sake of it. Clinical capacity, staffing and protecting our existing hospitals all matter. But those considerations cannot become a justification for indefinite delay.”