CUH to be major trauma centre

Cork University Hospital is set to become one of the country’s two major trauma centres in a comprehensive overhaul of trauma services — but it will require significant investment.

Although the hospital has long described itself as the country’s only level 1 trauma centre, it “currently does not meet the requirements for this designation”, according to Dr Conor Deasy, HSE clinical lead of major trauma audit at the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) and consultant in emergency medicine at CUH.

To meet the requirements, it would need, inter alia, a helipad, a CT scanner in the emergency department and additional bed capacity in the intensive care unit.