New Cork hospital badly needed, committee told

A new hospital is urgently needed in Cork, the head of an advisory board that drove a major health reform project has told an Oireachtas committee.

The need for the hospital to replace two facilities which are centuries old to take some of the pressure off Cork University Hospital was highlighted in a report published by the advisory board five years ago.

Developer Michael O’Flynn, who chaired a project on the reconfiguration of acute hospital services in Cork and Kerry, appealed for political support for the new hospital at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children yesterday.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar was presented with a shortlist of six possible sites in March. The new elective hospital would replace the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, the Mercy University Hospital, and the Dental Hospital.

Mr O’Flynn said it would be developed in a modular way with the latest facilities for day surgery, diagnostics, and ambulatory care, with a number of elective beds for in-patient surgery.

“Cork University Hospital and this new hospital would actually be a single hospital on two sites, one specialising in acute admissions and the other specialising in elective and day surgery but both managed as a single entity by the South/South West Hospital group,” said Mr O’Flynn.

He said the site for the new hospital needed to be within easy travelling distance of Cork University Hospital, with plenty of on-site parking and linked by good public transport.

He described the hospital project as practical, necessary, and urgent. “There are no major impediments to delay its realisation. Both the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital and the Mercy University Hospital were committed to it.

“We are arguing for a staged commitment over 10 to 15 years, beginning with site choice and acquisition, followed by concept planning, consultation with local authority planners on transport, and logistics and with other hospitals in the group,” said Mr O’Flynn.

He said they were seeking support for a decision in principle to locate and purchase a site and to commence planning for the phased transfer of services under the auspices of the South/South West Hospital group.

He said the new hospital would be planned so that it could be built in a modular way as resources became available. He said it would be a “crying shame” if a site was not selected and the project moved on.

Former director of the project John Higgins said they were within weeks of making an announcement about funding.

“We have got to know where to build it” said Prof Higgins. “We have got to be ready. It is going to be a big thing for Cork and we need to know the site.”