Former medical centre staff left in limbo after closure

BOUNCED cheques and emergency tax rates are among the difficulties faced by former staff of a private hospital in Cork city which closed just five months after it opened.

Nine former employees of the €90 million Cork Medical Centre (CMC), including Kay O’Mahony, former director of nursing, received payment of wages at the end of February — only to find the cheques bounced days later. None of the 75 staff at the facility in Mahon Gate, outside Cork city, was paid for days worked in March.

The hospital closed on March 10, less than two weeks after 19 additional staff were hired. The developers of CMC, the Sheehan Medical Group, blamed the closure on the decision by the VHI to refuse cover.