Hospital apologises over repair works noise

A BUSY city hospital apologised last night after a man claimed a doctor advised patients to buy ear plugs while loud drilling took place over a busy ward.

Hospital visitor Máirtín de Cogáin described as “horrific” the situation he experienced after going to see a frail and elderly relative at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork this week.

He heard loud jack hammers while visiting the woman, who is in her 80s, in a six-bed ward on Monday.

“I had to roar to try and talk to her,” he said.

“I asked some of the other patients how long this noise had been going on and they said it started some mornings at 8.30 and could go on all day.

“You’d swear the roof would fall down on top of you. I had a headache for the rest of the day.

“And I was only there for 10 minutes — it was horrendous.”

He used a video phone to record the scene and he posted it on YouTube, and on the Facebook pages of local public representatives, including Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

Mr de Cogáin said he raised his concerns with medical staff who said they had no control over the construction work.

He said they had given cotton wool to some of the patients to place in their ears.

But he was shocked when he raised his concerns with an intern who advised him to buy his relative ear plugs.

However, after finally raising the issue with a senior nurse manager, his relative was moved to another ward.

“I have never come across anything like it. I know budgets are tight, and the medical staff are overworked and understaffed.

“But you wouldn’t see this in a movie of torture camps.”

The chief executive of the SIVUH, Gerard O’Callaghan confirmed yesterday some “necessary repair work” was being carried out in the ward overhead which “generated a certain amount of noise”.

“I wish to apologise to any patient or visitor who may have been disturbed by the noise,” he said.