24/7 cardiac care for Kilkenny and the South-East 'is now government policy'

24/7 Cardiac Care for the South-East region is 'now finally government policy', according to Matt Shanahan TD.

Shanahan told Kilkenny Live that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has 'committed himself and his government to the future delivery of a 24/7 emergency cardiac care service based at University Hospital Waterford'.

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"The Taoiseach also highlighted in debate with me the ongoing step changes that are being planned to expand the cardiac service at UHW," he said.

These are to include new recruitment starts in July which will 'hopefully signal the emergency cardiac expansion of hours to 7 days 8am to 8pm from the present 5 day schedule'.

"The next logical step beyond this is the introduction of a 24/7 schedule for emergency cardiac access but this will require significant additional recruitment," Shanahan added.

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"We continue to suffer significant caps in the coverage of emergency cardiac care so this commitment now given, must be expedited as quickly as possible. 

"The Taoiseach has signaled that he will be taking personal interest in the allocation of future capital funding to University Hospital Waterford. I intend to hold him to that position as I will to the delivery of 24/7 cardiac care to the South-East region."