Cabinet to consider new Cork elective hospital 'in coming weeks', says health minister

Stephen Donnelly made the commitment following revelations about an eight-month delay to the development process

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly talking to CUH clinical director Conor Deasy, CUH chief executive David Donegan, and CUH director of nursing Helen Cahalane. Picture: John Allen/Provision

The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said he will ask Cabinet to make a decision on the construction of an elective hospital in Cork “in the coming weeks”.

Mr Donnelly made the commitment following revelations that crucial documents needed for the development of the hospital were inexplicably delayed by eight months.

He also said there are plans for a surgical hub in Cork that could help reduce inpatient waiting times by a third within one year, similar to what happened after the introduction of such a hub in Tallaght, Dublin.

Mr Donnelly said he would like to see the surgical hub up and running “probably not much more than a year after [approval from Cabinet] — if I get Government agreement”.

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, talking to staff nurse Gráinne Toomey in South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital Cork during the minister's visit to Cork health facilities. Picture: John Allen/Provision

The prospect of an elective hospital and a surgical hub comes as Cork University Hospital and Mercy University Hospital continue to struggle with ongoing capacity issues and overcrowding.

In order to ensure construction of the new hospital progresses quickly, Mr Donnelly stressed the need to reform the “very laborious” rules governing public sector spending. These rules were implemented after significant cost overruns in the new national children’s hospital.

Mr Donnelly said he is engaging with colleagues across Government to speed up and remove elements of the process that he labelled “overly bureaucratic”.

“As I said to the [hospital] teams today, one of the things that is so frustrating for our healthcare professionals is how long it takes to get approval for capital builds,” he said. “It’s not acceptable for me and it’s not acceptable to the Government.”

“[The spending rules] were put in the place for the best of reasons in terms of cost overruns but they’re just slowing us down too much,” he told reporters  at the Mercy University Hospital urgent care unit in Cork on Friday.

“We simply do not build hospitals quickly in this country and we have to change that. We’ll do the big structural changes as quickly as possible, and it will be a game changer when it comes in.”

The Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, talking to consultant dermatologist Michelle Murphy and consultant orthopaedic surgeon Colm Taylor in South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital Cork on Friday. Picture: John Allen/Provision

A preliminary business case for the new hospital was not received by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for consideration and sign-off until late September. 

Those documents were first delivered to the Department of Health by the HSE in January of this year and it remains unclear why it took so long for the documents to be transferred to the department.

On overcrowding in Cork University Hospital, the minister said a specialist team arrived last week and met with hospital management in an effort to help reduce the high numbers of patients on trolleys.