'Substantial increase' in number of nurses needed to meet healthcare demands, Cork conference told

Keynote speaker Geraldine Cunningham, organisational development consultant at Barts Health NHS Trust, with Helen Cahalane, director of nursing at CUH at the nursing conference on Tuesday. Picture: Dan Linehan

Any amount of health service reform is just an “aspiration” without nurses, a medical conference heard.

Cork University Hospital’s head of nursing Helen Cahalane, who opened Cork University Hospital's annual nurses conference, also said “substantial” increases in the number of trainee nurses was essential.