€16m A&E unit lying idle over lack of funding for staff

A €16 MILLION hi-tech accident and emergency unit has been lying idle in Health Minister Micheál Martin’s backyard for the past seven months because there is no money to staff it.

The unit could open next month if Cork University Hospital (CUH) secured the €3m needed to staff it, said the hospital’s director of emergency medicine, Dr Stephen Cusack.

“The most expensive corridor in the hospital is now being used as a temporary entrance to the outpatients and staff here find that very frustrating,” he said.