Cork Medical Centre faces closure in row with VHI

There are fears that the country's newest hospital may be forced to close because of a row with the VHI.

Staff at the Cork Medical Centre, which only opened late last year, have been told their jobs are now at risk.

The state-of-the-art hospital was opened with great fanfare in October. It is built on a site in Mahon.

The company behind the hospital - Sheehan Medical - reached agreement on cover with Aviva and Quinn Insurance but, despite talks, there is no cover in place for VHI.

As the result, the company says the future of the hospital has been put into doubt and management have put 75 staff on a month's protective notice.

The VHI says there is excess capacity in the private hospital marketplace and that it advised the company of that before they chose to go ahead with fitting out the new facility.