Reilly urged to intervene in row over CF beds

The minister for health has been asked to intervene in an ongoing row over bed allocation for cystic fibrosis patients at Cork University Hospital.

The row between the CF charity, Build4Life, and the hospital, centres on undertakings given by hospital management that beds would be ringfenced for CF patients in a new respiratory ward that Build4Life is funding at a cost of €2.3m.

The hospital has now pulled back from this undertaking, offering CF patients “priority access” instead, an offer rejected by Build4Life.

As a result of the row, the charity has refused to release funds and the project has ground to a halt.

Billy Kelleher, Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman, has written to James Reilly asking if he plans to intervene in the row to ensure the unit goes ahead.

He has also asked for a commitment from Dr Reilly that his department will foot the bill for the 20-bed ward if a resolution cannot be found.

In addition, Mr Kelleher has asked the health minister:

* If there is any reason “legal or otherwise” whya specific number of beds in the new ward cannot be ringfenced for CF patients “in line with understandings to do so” and if he will make a statement on the matter;

* If he will clarify staffing levels for the new unit.

A hospital staff member tasked with identifying staff requirements sat on the ward project group for two years, but Joe Browne, founder of Build4Life, said no staffing figure had been put forward.

The hospital has said the ward will operate “based on existing levels of service”.

Documents seen by the Irish Examiner show that the hospital repeatedly referred to up to 10 dedicated beds for CF patients on the new 20-bed ward since the project was first mooted over two years ago.

The documentation also shows repeated requests from Build4Life to the hospital seeking an agreement between both parties to protect the charity’s investment in the unit.

Meanwhile, the firm that installed teleconferencing facilities in a separate adult CF outpatient clinic at CUH has refuted claims by the hospital that a delay in getting the system up and running was down to “technical issues”.

When the Irish Examiner asked the hospital why it took more than a year for the system Build4Life had funded to become operational — resulting in the charity having to pay for an extended warranty when the initial warranty expired — the hospital blamed “technical issues that have since been resolved by the company contracted to install the equipment”.

The company contacted this newspaper to say there were no such issues: That the delay was entirely on the hospital’s side and that it had emails to back this up.

It is understood that the hospital had failed to install either broadband or wifi, without which teleconferencing is not possible.

Build4Life donated some €450,000 towards the cost of the outpatient clinic.

Four iPads donated by the charity for use by CF patients attending the clinic have never been used because the hospital is still assessing, two years later, “how best to clean these devices to ensure they are non-infective so they can be safely shared by all patients”.