Potential contamination issues closed CUH's newly-opened €90m surgical hub for a fortnight

The new hub has only treated a handful of patients since it reopened on October 12

(Left to right) Minister for health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, deputy mayor of Cork County Cllr Gillian Coughlan, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Prof John R Higgins, HSE South West regional director for Strategic Planning and Performance and Marie Horgan, CNM3 at the official opening of the new HSE Surgical Hub in Cork on September 28. Picture: Darragh Kane

A recently opened €90m surgical hub at Cork University Hospital was forced to close immediately for two weeks over potential air-contamination issues — and has only treated a handful of patients since.

The new HSE South West Surgical Hub was officially opened by minister for health Jennifer Carroll McNeill and the Taoiseach on September 28, but closed almost immediately afterwards after failing environmental testing.

The new hub, which had been earmarked to carry out a high-volume of low-complexity elective surgical procedures in order to ease waiting list pressures, finally reopened on October 12.

The hub consists of four operating theatres, outpatient consultation rooms, minor procedure rooms, patient assessment and recovery areas, and dedicated staff facilities.

Sources suggested that less than 10 patients have been seen at the hub since its reopening due to staffing and recruitment issues.

While the hub remained closed, it was referred to in the Dáil by the minister as being "staffed" and "ready to serve patients" during a robust exchange on budget allocations with Social Democrats spokesperson on health Padraig Rice, on October 7.

During the same exchange, the minister claimed that the health services in the Cork region had suffered staffing shortfalls as they "did not recruit in a way that was strategic".

A spokesperson for the HSE said clinical activity at the hub "was temporarily paused to complete additional building-related operational checks as part of the commissioning process and resumed on 12 October 2026".

Regarding staffing, they said that "recruitment for the hub has been ongoing since January through established competitive processes", adding that the hiring of personnel for it "is based on dedicated recruitment" with no staff having been redeployed from within CUH or from any other HSE site.

Local Cork TD Liam Quaide took issue with the minister's statements on October 7, saying she had "brandished the opening of the surgical hub as a success with which to reprimand my colleague Padraig Rice for raising staffing concerns".

"She assured the Dáil it was staffed and ready to treat patients, then accused hospital management of failing to recruit strategically," he said, asking further, "which posts does she believe management should have left vacant?"

The minister — who has been involved in a prolonged war of words with senior management at CUH in recent weeks over alleged understaffing and patient safety concerns at the hospital — had not replied to a request for comment regarding the closure of the surgical hub at the time of writing.