Brain surgery service to extend to Cork
Doctors say up to 30 patients a year, and their families, have been forced to endure delays of up to two weeks as they waited for beds to become available in the North or Dub-lin for endovascular coiling — a new keyhole technique used to treat subarachnoid haemorrhages, bleeds in between the brain and the tissue that covers it.
Cork University Hospital general manager Tony McNamara said about 10 patients a year were sent to Beaumont from CUH.
Staff at Beaumont Hospital have admitted their unit was “already struggling” without having to take patients from the southern counties.
Two neuroradiologists at Beaumont are doing all the country’s endovascular coiling procedures. Such is their workload that southern patients have been sent to the Royal Victoria in Belfast in recent months. Fears had been expressed this week that the planned new service at CUH could fall victim to the HSE’s recruitment freeze.
Mr McNamara said coiling should be available at the hospital from the end of November.
“CUH has purchased the coiling equipment to provide this intervention in Cork and two months ago a second consultant neuro-radiologist took up duty to support this service.
“Remedial work is underway in the radiology department to upgrade the facilities where coiling will be performed. It is hoped to have this service available by the end of next month,” he said.
Beaumont neurosurgeon Ciaran Bolger said: “We have been actively looking, with the HSE, to find a solution to the pressure on services. If we are to provide this service for the whole country, we need to be resourced accordingly.”
