First of 4 Surgical Hubs Opens for Ireland’s Health Service Executive

The first of four surgical hubs recently opened following the successful delivery and handover of the site to the Republic of Ireland’s Health Service Executive by AECOM. These medical facilities are located in Ireland’s regional cities as part of the HSE’s Surgical Hubs program, and are being developed in key locations on sites operated under the governance of Model 4 hospitals.

The surgical hub at Cork University Hospital was opened by the Irish Taoiseach, Micheál Martin and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeil. Three other hubs, located at University Hospital Waterford, University Hospital Limerick’s O’Connell Avenue site and Merlin Park University Hospital Galway, are set to follow suit.

Each surgical hub is a ring-fenced surgical facility containing operating theaters, treatment rooms, recovery beds and other services necessary to deliver ambulatory, minor and day-case procedures, located in a separate area or building within a larger hospital campus. They have been designed to provide high-volume, low-complexity care, intended to enhance surgery and increase ambulatory capacity to address waiting list pressures in the shorter term ahead of the delivery of elective hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

The surgical hubs have been delivered through a rapid-build construction solution, using a modular approach involving a single design across three of the sites to help fast-track the decision-making process and increase efficiency of delivery. These projects range in size from 5,000 to 6,000 square meters, and include operating theaters and all associated theater department support and storage areas, procedure rooms, post-operative recovery, consultant exam rooms, staff facilities and public and patient changing facilities.

AECOM had been appointed to provide a range of services on the project, including project management, cost management, employer’s representative, assigned certifier and BIM oversight services. The firm also selected sub-consultants Varming Consulting Engineers and Catalyst to provide additional design services concerning energy-efficiency optimization and building regulation compliance, respectively.

Image: Philip Daly