Drumm to be questioned over idle €5m A&E unit

THE head of the health service is to be quizzed by a powerful Dáil committee tomorrow about why a €5 million A&E unit has lain idle for almost a year.

Health Service Executive (HSE) chief executive, Professor Brendan Drumm, is due to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) tomorrow morning.

Its chairman, Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen, said Prof Drumm has serious questions to answer about the “ongoing mothballing” of the A&E unit at Cork’s Mercy University Hospital.

Work on the new emergency department was completed last March. But it has not yet opened because of differences between Mercy University Hospital management and the HSE on the number of staff required to run it.

Hospital managers have argued that an additional 25 staff, including about 15 nursing staff, are needed to run the facility which will cater for 34,000 patients every year.

The old A&E unit dealt with about 24,000 patients.

The HSE has disputed the extra staffing numbers.

Both sides agreed to an independent review of staffing numbers, which took place in early December.

A hospital spokesman said pending the outcome of the report, it was hoped to open the new A&E late next month or early March.

But Mr Allen said there are serious questions to be answered about how a badly needed A&E facility could lie idle for almost a year while existing facilities are stretched beyond capacity.

“Considering that it took two years to build, I will be asking Prof Drumm to explain why staffing issues were not sorted out during the construction period so that it could open to the public as soon as it was completed,” he said.

“The fact that a multi-million euro unit could be left to lie idle for 12 months raises serious questions about financial management within the HSE.”

He said he would also seek an explanation from Health Minister Mary Harney who has suggested that the hospital’s staffing requirements for the new unit are unreasonable.

Emergency medicine consultant, Dr Chris Luke, who is based at Mercy University Hospital, last night reiterated his calls for the HSE to resolve the issue quickly and open the badly needed new facility.

“Staff are in despair at the continuing difficulty of trying to treat patients in a dilapidated and overcrowded facility despite the fact that a purpose-built, state-of-the-art emergency department lies idle just a few yards away,” said Dr Luke.