Cork hospital improves rate for children's appointments

Cork University Hospital Department of Paediatrics has achieved an increase of more than 21.3% in appointments offered between April 1 and August 1 this year, new figures show.

Between those dates, the team offered 21.3% additional new/first appointments and 25.3% more follow-up appointments compared with the same period in 2024, a HSE spokesperson told The Echo.

Professor Colin Hawkes, clinical director of the paediatrics directorate, said that the increase in appointments offered is thanks to the hard work of the team, departmental reorganisation, and the opening of a new site for outpatient appointments at St Mary’s Primary Care Centre in Gurranabraher.

He said that in the past five years, 123,370 paediatric appointments took place, of which 40,000 were new or first-time appointments and 83,370 were follow-ups.

The number of children on paediatric outpatient waiting lists has reduced by 23.4% from August 1, 2024, to August 1, 2025, despite a significant rise in the number of children referred, with 12.8% more referrals in 2024 than in 2023; and in turn a 10.2% increase in referrals in 2023 compared to the previous year.

“Cork University Hospital department of paediatrics provides specialised paediatric care for children across the region and beyond. Our team is constantly innovating and providing the highest quality of care for children,” said Mr Hawkes. 

“This aligns with our plans to open the paediatric building, including 82 single rooms [and] four operating theatres in Cork University Hospital by 2030.”

The mean age of diagnosis with cerebral palsy has reduced from over two years old to less than eight months, due to innovations in screening.

The Echo recently revealed that 7,072 paediatric appointments and surgeries were cancelled in Cork University Hospital from 2020 to 2024.

However, a HSE spokesperson said the appointments include not only cancelled appointments, but those rescheduled, including by patients themselves. The number of appointments rescheduled in that period was also affected by the covid pandemic; the cyber attack on the HSE, and the opening of a new site for outpatient appointments at St Mary’s Primary Care Centre.