Cork University Hospital boss expects full staffing for cancer unit

The head of Cork University Hospital (CUH) has said he is satisfied that a full staffing complement will be in place when a new €40m radiation oncology unit opens next October, despite a warning that posts “central to the delivery of cancer care” are either vacant or unfilled.

Responding to a statement from the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) that four of the seven permanent radiation oncology posts at the hospital are “either vacant or filled on a temporary basis”, Tony McNamara said they had interviewed for two of those posts “and there are candidates starting in the next couple of months, before the first patients are treated in mid-October”.