Over 800 jobs to be cut as health budgets slashed

More than 800 jobs are to be cut as part of a plan to slash budgets across health services in Cork and Kerry.

Under the HSE South service plan, Mallow General Hospital’s emergency department will close, with emergency surgery being switched to Cork University Hospital (CUH), while the casualty unit at Bantry General Hospital will be replaced with a 12-hour, seven-day-a-week urgent care centre.

A 20-bed ward in Cork’s Marymount Hospice will now open on a phased basis due to budget changes — among a number of changes aimed at increasing the level of palliative care in the southern region.