Emergency hospital on outskirts of city needed
The former chair of the National Cancer Forum, professor of surgery Paul Redmond, said sustained construction at CUH over the past decade meant space was at a premium at the hospital.
And, in time, he said, the HSE would have to consider developing an emergency hospital, which would also deal with emergency surgery.
A greenfield site in a non-residential area, such as close to the Jack Lynch Tunnel, would make sense, he said.
“You would have to consider the wisdom of having elective and non-elective [scheduled] surgery taking place on such a confined site.
“Mixing cancer care with emergency care is not a model that is used a lot and the ideal would be to have a new hospital for emergencies and emergency care, at perhaps somewhere like around the Jack Lynch tunnel, and another for scheduled work.
“Bed capacity is a problem at CUH with the ongoing budgetary constraints and working towards a greenfield hospital is something that we need to consider when the economy starts to recover. The hospital might not be built in my lifetime, but it must be examined and developed. It’s all about a ringfencing of resources for the different branches of medicine.”
His comments come just weeks after plans for a new National Children’s Hospital at the site of the Mater were dealt a blow with An Bord Pleanála’s refusal to grant it planning permission. For seven years, politicians and paediatric experts have been at loggerheads over the preferred location for the hospital, with many supporting a greenfield site on the M50 rather than the development at the city centre Mater.
His comments may also find favour with medical staff at the Mercy, St Mary’s Orthopaedic, and South Infirmary hospitals who long queried the wisdom of centralising A&E and cancer care at the restricted Wilton site.
Prof Redmond also strongly criticised the city’s planners for refusing to consider a multi-storey car park on the Cork University Hospital campus.
“There are now seven car parks at Cork University Hospital. Car parking has always been an issue at CUH as we are not allowed by the planners to build a multi-storey car park. So much extra space could be freed up but they have told us they will block it. Most other major hospitals in the country have a multi-storey car park. It’s just ridiculous that we don’t.”
