Charity to hand over €2.3m as CUH cystic fibrosis row ends

A row over the ring-fencing of beds for cystic fibrosis patients at a Cork hospital has been resolved, paving the way for the handover of €2.3m to fund a respiratory ward.

Under an agreement between the HSE and CF charity Build4Life, four beds on the new adult ward at Cork University Hospital will be ring-fenced for CF patients. While this falls short of the 10 protected beds Build4Life had sought — and which the hospital had originally mooted — the charity secured enough additional concessions to make a deal possible.

The final accord — brought about following the intervention of junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch — represents a significant advance on the “priority access” that the hospital had pushed for.