Call for health referendum

A REFERENDUM allowing voters decide what treatments should be dispensed by the public health service could help tackle spiralling treatment costs, a top consultant has said.

Cork University Hospital (CUH) A&E chief Stephen Cusack said it was time to debate whether funding a number of small operations was preferable to one costly procedure.

“As a doctor I want to treat all my patients but, faced with spiralling costs, maybe it is time to start thinking as a nation whether we would prefer five hip operations or one heart