Padhraig O’Loughlin is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Mater Private, Cork.

Mary Morrogh, consultant general and breast surgeon, Mater Private Hospital Cork, and Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Skin cancer patients who have to travel long distances to hospitals are presenting with more advanced stages of the disease, an Irish study has found.

Eoin English Eight sexual health groups in Cork have joined forces to make their services more visible.

The latest pitch for a new Cork City hospital envisages more than doubling the size of Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in a largely skyward expansion, supported by a 1,000 space multi-storey car park and fronted by a plaza-style pedestrianised streetscape.

A 1,000-space multi-storey carpark, a “Mercy Quarter” plaza, and a hospital two-and-a-half times the size of the existing facility are among proposals contained in a confidential document outlining expansion plans for the Mercy University Hospital (MUH).

A major acute hospital in Cork continues to use operating theatres identified as not being fit for purpose by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

Head and neck cancers linked to oral sex are on the rise, primarily among men, mostly in their 30s, while those linked to smoking and drinking have decreased slightly.

The need for a new hospital in Cork to replace two centuries-old facilities and to take some of the pressure off Cork University Hospital (CUH) remains a key outstanding recommendation of a report on the reconfiguration of acute hospital services, published five years ago.

A clinic which specialises in the surgical removal of facial skin cancers has been opened in a region which has the highest incidence of skin cancer in Irelandy.

Six sites have been shortlisted as possible locations for a €300m hospital in Cork City to facilitate the merger of two of the region’s busiest hospitals.

A major increase in cancers of the tonsil and base of tongue, largely due to sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), is behind the efforts of a Cork hospital to raise funds for new equipment that would make treating these cancers more humane.

Cork University Hospital (CUH) has the lowest rate of day surgery of all the major hospitals in the country even though day cases cost on average 60% less than inpatient cases and the hospital is over budget by almost €5m.

A clinic treating children for orthopaedic conditions such as congenital hip dysplasia (dislocation) and club foot is seeing up to 70 patients a day, even though the ideal number is 24, according to the surgeon involved.

A charity organisation is providing a liaison nurse at Cork University Hospital for women and families affected by gynaecological cancers, such as ovarian and cervical cancer.

THE emergency department at one of Cork city’s busiest hospitals is to close next April as part of a major reconfiguration of the region’s health services.

HEALTH Minister James Reilly pledged last night to develop an accident and emergency-type unit at a Cork hospital that campaigners had feared would close.

CORK University Hospital’s (CUH) emergency department was swamped with a massive 4,411 patients last month — the highest rate ever recorded at the under-pressure facility.

MORE than 20 patients remained on trolleys at Cork’s three emergency departments yesterday, however a number of swine flu cases could see this figure rise again over the coming days.

A RADICAL overhaul of hospital services in Cork and Kerry which will reduce the number of round-the-clock emergency departments (EDs) to one per county is expected to be completed in just over three years.

THE Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is to carry out another assessment of breast cancer services at Cork University Hospital (CUH) amid concerns the hospital’s breast cancer unit is struggling to meet demands put on it after the transfer of services from the city’s South Infirmary Victoria Hospital.

A GROUP of women who raised concerns about issues surrounding the centralisation of breast disease services at Cork University Hospital (CUH) a full year before the same problems were noted in a formal report is to meet this evening.

THE controversial decision to centralise Munster cancer services at a Cork city centre of excellence is causing potentially serious access, funding and capacity problems for patients and staff.

THE controversial investigation into Mallow General Hospital (MGH), which could result in the facility being severely downgraded or closed, is not based on any formal complaint by patients or medical staff.

THE last remaining public in-patient beds on the northside of Cork city will close within a year under plans to relocate orthopaedic services to the city centre.

As Cork hospital loses services its future remains unclear, writes Catherine Shanahan

AN elderly pensioner suffering from dementia was forced to use a vital hospital bed for six months because no adequate step-down services were available.

THE health minister has indicated her support for Professor Tom Keane to succeed Professor Brendan Drumm when the job of chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE) becomes vacant next year.

THE doctor tasked with overseeing the reconfiguration of hospitals in the Health Service Executive (HSE) South has pledged to end the use of trolleys within two years.

THE head of the HSE South’s controversial hospital reconfiguration plan has claimed new medical assessment units (MAUs) at all facilities will make hospital trolleys obsolete.

MERGER plans involving two of the country’s biggest voluntary hospitals have been temporarily shelved.

AN early draft of the Teamwork Report on the reconfiguration of acute hospital services in Cork and Kerry envisaged a far more prominent role for the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) than the final report recommended.

ALL out-of-hours emergency surgery in Cork city and county will be carried out at Cork University Hospital (CUH) as part of a plan to reconfigure healthcare services in the south.

NONE of the 10 hospitals in the south and south-east is delivering acute care in line with international standards, according to a leaked report.

THE board of one of Cork’s biggest hospitals has described the consultants’ report into hospital services in Cork as “seriously flawed” and “based on outdated and inaccurate data”.

CORK University Hospital (CUH) is set to become the only acute hospital in Cork and Kerry, according to an unpublished report seen by the Irish Examiner.

UP TO 12 acute hospitals around the country could lose their 24-hour A&E service, following a review of activity levels by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

A BREAST cancer unit destined for closure under Government plans to centralise treatment services has recorded its busiest year ever.

CORK TDs who requested a meeting with cancer tsar Professor Tom Keane over the proposed transfer of breast cancer services to Cork University Hospital (CUH) have been offered a tour of the new ward.