Is Cork University Hospital safe? Inside the growing dispute over staffing and resources

Staff and management fear winter pressures could expose patient safety risks as a dispute over resources intensifies at Cork University Hospital

CUH chief executive Jennifer Kearney wrote to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill warning that the hospital was unsafe for patients and staff.

Management, clinicians and staff at Cork University Hospital are in a mounting dispute with the HSE and health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill over staffing levels and resources at the South-West’s biggest hospital.

Trolleys are piling up in the hospital’s emergency department and, as the health service prepares for winter, staff and management fear a tragic incident if resources are not urgently increased.

Last week, CUH chief executive Jennifer Kearney wrote to the health minister warning that the hospital was unsafe for patients and staff.

“My responsibility as chief executive is not simply to comply with a process," she wrote. "It is to speak clearly when I believe that process is creating a foreseeable risk to patients and staff.

"I would rather raise that concern now, when there is still an opportunity to act, than remain silent and explain afterwards why we did not.”

The minister responded in an interview on RTÉ radio, saying there was “no evidence” the hospital was unsafe – but medical staff at the hospital have since backed the CEO’s concerns.

So, is the hospital safe or not?

Irish Examiner health correspondent Niamh Griffin examines the details of the dispute at CUH in today’s episode.