Call for new hospital to take pressure off crowded CUH

The need for a new hospital in Cork to replace two centuries-old facilities and to take some of the pressure off Cork University Hospital (CUH) remains a key outstanding recommendation of a report on the reconfiguration of acute hospital services, published five years ago.

Yesterday, the advisory board that helped drive the reconfiguration project in Cork and Kerry urged Health Minister Leo Varadkar to make a decision on the location of a new hospital site as soon as possible. The board presented its final reconfiguration report to the minister yesterday.

Mr Varadkar was presented with a shortlist of six possible sites in March. The new hospital would be an elective facility, catering for inpatients, outpatients, day-patients, and walk-in diagnostic services and would take considerable pressure off the crowded CUH campus.