€40m hospital plan ‘a drop in ocean’ and ‘nowhere near sufficient’ for winter period

The Winter Initiative Plan, published yesterday by the Health Service Executive (HSE), commits to providing just 55 additional acute beds nationwide — too few to meet demand in Cork University Hospital (CUH) alone, where an additional 70 are needed, according to emergency medicine consultant Stephen Cusack.
Since the end of August CUH has had to cancel 40 surgeries, with another 40 cancelled at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH).