A&E costs set to hit €4m at CUH

THE cost of running the new A&E unit at Cork University Hospital increased by €1m in the three months after it opened and a further e1m increase is expected by mid-October.

In total, the additional annual cost of running the department is expected to hit €4m by April next year, one year after the unit opened. It is not yet known if the Health Service Executive (HSE) will continue to allocate an additional €4m annually to run the new unit at CUH.

The extra money has already been allocated by the HSE and covers a substantial increase in staff numbers. Overall staffing levels have soared from approximately 93 to 160, including 30 extra nurses; the number of allied health staff has tripled from seven to 21 and the number of non-nursing staff has doubled from 20 to 41.

Dr Stephen Cusack, A&E consultant and chair of the hospital’s division of emergency medicine, said the new unit is operating like clockwork.

“There is a lot more efficient use of the department, it is working very well for what it is designed to do,” he said. However, it will not eliminate the problem of patients on trolleys, he said, because that is symptomatic of wider problems within the hospital, mainly bed shortages. Yesterday, figures from the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) showed just eight patients on trolleys at CUH, significantly lower than many major Dublin hospitals, including the Mater where there were 15 patients on trolleys, Beaumont where there were 25 and St Vincent’s where there were 23.

A statement from the HSE Southern Area said it was not possible to compare the cost of running the old A&E department with the new.

“As the department opened on 18th April 2005 and the recruitment of new staff was spread over several weeks, there would not be a true comparison between the first and second quarters of 2005.

“However, we can confirm that costs have increased by approximately e1m per quarter since the new department opened,” the statement said.

The new A&E unit is part of a more than €200 million upgrade at CUH. It is double the size of the old unit and includes a separate triage area; separate facilities for the care of children, a treatment area for minor injuries, a resuscitation area, dedicated diagnostic imaging facilities, , a specialist facility for emergency eye treatment, a chemical decontamination facility, a clinical decision unit and counselling areas for families. It is expected to treat upwards of 50,000 patients annually.