Consultant: Patient care trumps traffic concerns

ONE of the country’s most experienced and respected consultants spoke out last night about the importance of securing a co-location facility at Cork University Hospital.

In a rare public comment on medical issues, Professor Liam Kirwan, professor of surgery at CUH and who is known as “the father of the hospital”, said the “greater good” should win out over local planning concerns.

“CUH is on a huge site which was bought before World War II for the purpose of providing a hospital for the city — long before houses were built in the area,” he said.

“There is plenty of capacity for this co-located development, and there is room for more.”

The Beacon Medical Group (BMG) is facing stiff local opposition — mostly on traffic grounds — against its plans to build a 250-bed private hospital on the grounds of CUH.

Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin has described it as “not sustainable” on the Wilton site.

But Prof Kirwan, 65, who has worked at CUH since it opened 32 years ago, spoke out in favour of the project.

He declined to comment on Mr Martin’s stance, saying he wanted to remain focused on the medical importance of the proposal.

But he said co-location is government policy and CUH is a publicly funded institution, which must follow government policy.

“This is an excellent opportunity for Munster and Cork to have grafted onto its main hospital extra beds, delivering increased capacity on an already overstretched hospital,” he said.

Prof Kirwan is a member of the hospital’s executive management team, and worked from the beginning with the HSE and BMG drawing up plans for the co-location facility.

He said he was concerned the planning decision could go against the facility.

He said he appreciated the fact there would be local concerns but he said traffic should not be the primary concern.

“The delivery of the best standard of medical care to the citizen should be the primary concern,” he said.

The co-location hospital is crucial if CUH is to achieve “critical mass” and position itself as a medical institution comparable with internationally renowned hospitals, he said.

Failure to secure the co-location hospital could damage CUH’s prospects of reaching the level that would allow it achieve a stature way above Cork, he said. Apart from the increased bed capacity and the ability for CUH to provide a full range of medical specialities on the one site, new teaching facilities, and associated hi-tech medical technology, Prof Kirwan said BMG’s hospital would also deliver 500 permanent jobs and associated spin-offs.

So far, Cork City Council has received 144 submissions on the project. A planning decision is expected next month.