Hospital’s trolley use to end ‘in two years’

THE doctor tasked with overseeing the reconfiguration of hospitals in the Health Service Executive (HSE) South has pledged to end the use of trolleys within two years.

Director of Reconfiguration Professor John Higgins said he would regard it as “a mark of failure” if they did not eliminate the need to keep patients on trolleys in Cork University Hospital’s (CUH) A&E by the end of 2011.

CUH is set to be the only A&E in Cork city and county, if the reconfiguration plan is implemented in full. The plan proposes that A&Es in the Mercy University Hospital (MUH), South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH), Mallow General Hospital (MGH) and Bantry General Hospital (BGH) be replaced by medical assessment and admissions units (MAAU).