A&E to open after lying idle for two years

A HOSPITAL emergency department which has lain idle for almost two years will finally open in four weeks.

Management at Cork’s Mercy University Hospital (MUH) confirmed last night that the €4.6 million unit, which has never opened because of a staffing and funding row, will open on a 24-hour, seven days-a-week basis from late November.

However, management at what is one the country’s largest voluntary hospitals said a number of planned additional facilities still will not be available. These will be cordoned off to await their hoped-for introduction on a phased basis in the future, a spokesman said.

Socialist Party Cllr Mick Barry, coordinator of the Campaign for a Real Public Health Service, said its fight for a full emergency service at MUH will continue.

“The people want and deserve a full emergency department service — not half a service,” he said.

The news came yesterday after a bitter 12-month stand-off between MUH and the Health Service Executive (HSE). It featured an unprecedented attack on the HSE by MUH’s board in April when they accused health managers of putting budgets before patients.

Tensions rose when HSE chief executive, Brendan Drumm, and Health Minister Mary Harney, were drawn in to the row. Prof Drumm said MUH should be able to open the unit without extra resources.

And Minister Harney sparked a furious reaction in August when she effectively blamed MUH staff for the idle unit. She warned that the Government will not be “held to ransom” on staffing and operating budgets of new medical facilities.

Despite protracted talks with the HSE, a spokesman for MUH confirmed that no extra resources have been provided to open the unit. It will open using existing resources and staff, including 18 nurses, nine doctors, one consultant, four care assistants, six porters and five clerical staff.

“We are very pleased that this move is taking place, after such a long and protracted delay,” MUH chief executive, Pat Madden, said.

He said management had a clear vision of the kind of optimum service that could be provided at the unit — an advanced nurse practitioner to fast-track minor injuries, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker and GP support.

“These additional services may be introduced at a later stage, on a phased basis, depending on the level of HSE support provided.” he said.