Consultants ask Martin to change stance on CUH

CONSULTANTS based at Cork University Hospital have asked Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin to change his position and support plans for a €250m co-location hospital on their campus.

In a letter signed by Dr Denis Kelly, chairman of the consultant medical staff, they question whether Mr Martin was misquoted in recent media reports when he outlined his opposition to the private hospital.

“Although your recent comments regarding the development of a co-located hospital on the CUH site may have been misrepresented by the media, we consider it very important that your support for this development be unequivocal, informed and public,” the consultants said in a letter to Mr Martin.

Two weeks ago, Mr Martin described as “not sustainable” the Beacon Medical Group’s plan to build one of the State’s first co-location hospitals at CUH.

He restated his position last weekend and said he sees “no conflict” in his decision to oppose the 185-bed private hospital project while supporting the Government’s co-location policy.

National policy must fit in with local planning frameworks, he said.

But the consultant medical staff of CUH yesterday urged Mr Martin to change his mind.

In the letter from the consultant medical staff, they said “no viable alternative to a co-located development exists if the quality of healthcare is to be maintained and improved”.

They said that without such a development soon, “it will not be possible to serve the people of the southern region optimally in terms of acute hospital-based healthcare delivery”. The letter goes on to say: The healthcare provided at CUH is limited by its infrastructural capacity. The development of a co-located hospital on the CUH campus which mirrors the case-mix of the public hospital, is the best solution.

Secondary benefits to patients will include the recruitment of first-class staff across all disciplines.

The BMG project supports academic activity in the CUH campus. This is critical to the development of Cork as a functioning academic medical centre.

No viable alternative site for a co-located hospital exists.

“A delay will undermine the Government’s attempts to develop a nationally coherent, patient-centred healthcare service.

“The likely development of independent private hospitals to meet the capacity need will render patients more vulnerable to a “‘cherry-picking”’ approach to service delivery and an inequitable, two-tier healthcare system,” they said.

Dr George Shorten, Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at UCC and CUH, said consultants were anxious to make public their position on the co-location project.

He accepted neighbouring residents have concerns but said consultants see a “crying-out-loud need” for increased capacity.

“Building a co-location hospital at CUH which mirrors the case-mix of the public facility is the best way to address this situation in the short term,” he said.

Mr Martin said he had yet to see the letter but he welcomed the consultants’ “entry into the debate”.

“During the general election, there were very few doctors speaking to me about co-location. But I’m glad to see that there is unanimity about co-location.”

Residents in the Wilton area held another public meeting on Thursday to discuss aspects of the BMG project. The consortium is due to meet local public representatives next week to outline their proposal.