Just one A&E each for Cork and Kerry

A RADICAL overhaul of hospital services in Cork and Kerry which will reduce the number of round-the-clock emergency departments (EDs) to one per county is expected to be completed in just over three years.

The ambitious reconfiguration plan, which has not been costed, will effectively create a single hospital network where hospitals no longer compete for patients and services but work together in a “complimentary way” according to Professor John Higgins, director of reconfiguration, Health Service Executive (HSE) South.

Prof Higgins said it was “unprecedented” that all six acute hospitals in the region had bought into the blueprint for future delivery of healthcare, which spells the end of 24-hour emergency care at all but Cork University Hospital (CUH) and Kerry General Hospital (KGH) and the end of orthopaedics at St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital (SMOH).