Budget 2025 to deliver 175 new hospital beds for Cork

The headline figure of €25.8bn in health spending announced during Budget Day will fund an additional 175 beds in Cork hospitals as well as the expansion of the paediatric ED at CUH, according to a statement issued by Cork North West Fine Gael candidate John Paul O’Shea.

Cork University Hospital is to get 36 additional beds while there will be 24 new beds in Mallow General Hospital as well as 10 extra in the Mercy University Hospital.

A community nursing unit with 105 new beds is to open in St Finbarr’s Hospital.

This makes up almost one-third of the new hospital beds promised nationwide by the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly when he held a press conference on Tuesday following the Budget Day announcement in the Dáil.

He has said that there would be a total of 495 new beds, including 165 new community nursing unit beds.

“Many of these are in Cork, and five emergency departments are to be expanded which includes the new paediatric ED in CUH,” said Mr O’Shea, adding that six new minor injury units are also to open across the country — with one of these being based in Ballincollig.

“In 2025, the health sector workforce will increase by 3,346.

“Crucially, additional training places will also be provided for GPs and nurses to enhance the capacity of frontline workers. This pipeline of professional healthcare workers is vital as we plan for our growing population.

“In tandem with bed and staffing capacity, the mental health budget will also increase significantly, to €1.4bn, the benefits of which will be seen in services provided in Cork.”

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said that her party would have used the budget as ‘an opportunity to invest in the public services which have been starved of resources for more than a decade’.

“There are too many people on lengthy waiting lists for treatment,” said Ms Cairns.

“There are too few primary care centres working in communities,” said the Cork South West TD.

“The scandal of tens of thousands of people languishing on trolleys persists.

“Critical programmes, such as the cancer strategy, have been starved of funding and regional disparities in the availability of acute care continue.

“This also applies to home care supports.”

The Cork South West TD said the additional 3,346 staff across the health service wouldn’t make a dent in the staffing challenges it faced.