Radiotherapy a keystone of €77m expansion for Bon Secours Hospital in Cork
The project will create an additional 81 private rooms, four more operating theatres, an oncology day ward, inpatient wards, and a 10-bed intensive care unit (ICU), according to hospital manager Harry Canning.
The centrepiece will be a new radiotherapy service, the first private radiotherapy centre in Cork, which is a joint venture between the Bon Secours Health System (BSHS) and US medical firm University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre (UPMC).
UPMC will fund half the cost of the €13m centre, which is expected to open in July 2019. Mr Canning said the development will create job opportunities for nursing staff, radiotherapists and clinicians. He said the hospital is already one of the largest employers in the region with more than 1,100 staff.
Junior health minister Jim Daly yesterday turned the sod for the six-storey extension, which is expected to generate about 200 construction jobs over a two-year period. He described it as “a significant development for the organisation and for the Bon Secours in Cork particularly”.
Bill Maher, group CEO, BSHS, said Cork was their “flagship hospital” and that it was “a proud day” for BSHS. He said the new radiotherapy service would be “a welcome new service for cancer patients”.
The HSE’s quarterly performance report for April-June 2017 shows public patients are not always referred in a timely manner for radiotherapy treatment in Cork. Figures show just 56.6% of patients attending Cork University Hospital were referred within the HSE target time of 15 working days. The HSE target is that 90% of patients be referred within this timeframe. At the UPMC Whitfield Clinic in Waterford, 100% of patients are referred within 15 working days. Nationally, 74.1% of public patients are referred within the target timeframe.
The new cancer unit at the Bon Secours will be accessible to patients via a new entrance to the hospital site on Western Rd. As part of the preparatory work, a bridge has been installed over the south channel of the River Lee. The hospital acquired the site that was formerly home to the Western Star pub on Western Rd in order to develop this key access point.
The €77m investment in its Cork hospital is part of an overall €150m “2020 Plan” investment in the BSHS, which includes five hospitals in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick (formerly Barrington’s), and Tralee, as well as a care village in Cork and a consultants outreach clinic in Cavan.
Mr Canning said their expanded service in Cork, against a backdrop of a growing and ageing population, would “ensure capacity in the future”.
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