New elective surgery hub opened at CUH
A surgical hub for elective out-patient surgeries at Cork University Hospital (CUH) has been officially opened by an Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
The facility – which cost just under €90 million – was developed to provide elective surgical care, outpatient, and minor procedure capacity. The first procedures to be carried out will be gynaecological procedures, Minister MacNeill confirmed.
The hub includes four operating theatres, outpatient consultation rooms, minor procedure rooms, patient assessment and recovery areas, and dedicated staff facilities.
It will also support a range of specialities and will deliver same day procedures, allowing patients to attend for treatment, recover, and return home on the same day wherever clinically appropriate.
The hub at CUH is one of several hubs which have been opened around the country, including in Dublin, Limerick, and Galway.
Minister MacNeill said that the hub forms an important part of the Government’s efforts to improve access to care.
“When it’s operational, you’ll have 10,000 people getting procedures here every year, 13,500 when the second two operating theatres open, and that means those people who have been waiting for neurological, dermatology, ophthalmology, or general surgery, all of the things which people have been waiting for too long will happen much more quickly."
An Taoiseach said that the hub will meet growing demand for elective services while delivering a high-quality experience for patients in a purpose-built environment.
Anne O’Connor, CEO of the HSE said: “The new Surgical Hub is much more than a new healthcare building. It represents a new model of care. By creating dedicated, protected capacity for planned procedures, we can reduce the impact that emergency pressures have on scheduled surgery and provide greater certainty for patients and their families.”
Minister MacNeill also expressed her confidence in CEO of CUH and said that staffing at the Hub will not be an issue going into the winter months.
Last month, CEO of CUH Jennifer Kearney said that the hospital could not operate safely coming into the winter months due to a shortage of staff.
However, the minister said that her department had not seen any indicators of a lack of safety by any metric by which it would typically be measured.
“By every metric that it’s possible for us to have, Cork has been safe all year, and it has also recruited more staff than any other Model 4 hospital in the country by some distance,” she said.
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.