24-hour emergency department to close in major reorganisation

The 24-hour emergency department at Mallow General Hospital will close in late March as part of a major reorganisation of services at the hospital.

It will be replaced by an urgent care centre comprising a 12-hour local injury unit and medical assessment unit which will open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.

All acute and emergency surgery will be transferred from Mallow to CUH on the same date, Mar 25, while elective inpatient surgeries will transfer to CUH on the week commencing May 20.

The local injury unit, however, will be staffed by senior doctors and a consultant in emergency medicine. It will treat patients with minor injuries such as suspected broken bones, sprains and strains, facial injuries, and minor scalds and burns.

The HSE maintains that the vast majority — over 85% — of patients currently attending Mallow will continue to do so.

Patients will only have to travel to Cork City hospitals to receive complex services and serious emergency care.

To this end, emergency surgery will transfer to CUH and elective in-patient surgery to Mallow and to the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital.

At the same time, according to the HSE, a range of minor day surgeries will transfer out of the city hospitals to Mallow General, resulting in overall larger volumes of surgical activity at the north Cork hospital.

Meanwhile, an increased level of endoscopy will be delivered by current Mallow hospital surgeons and physicians and by visiting consultants after the endoscopy facility, currently under construction, opens.

Despite concerns at some of the moves, a locally-based Government TD insists that the future of Mallow General is secure.

Fine Gael TD Tom Barry said Health Minister James Reilly and the HSE had confirmed the hospital will see further investment and expansion in its new role over the next few years.

“This is the first time in decades we’ve had a minister confirm Mallow General Hospital will be expanding, as opposed to the constant threat of closure which hung over it for many years,” said Mr Barry.

He said the hospital was now intrinsically linked with CUH as it was effectively operating as part of that hospital campus.

“[This] will see better services to the patient and less cost to the taxpayer. Mallow will become a model of how smaller hospitals can play a vital and progressive role in modern medicine,” said Mr Barry.

It has also been confirmed that a fourth general physician, with special interest in respiratory medicine, has been appointed and will begin working at the hospital in April.