Plans for Cork's newest hospital will be submitted 'within months'
Plans for the hospital on the site of St Stephen’s Hospital in Glanmire were set out in December 2023 by the Department of Health to have construction start in 2026 and finish in 2027.
The new elective hospital for Cork city will go to the planning application stage within months, the HSE has said.
Even though the original plan had been for construction to finish by 2027, the health authority now says it intends to apply for planning before the end of this year.
The hospital was announced as part of measures to tackle overcrowding and will see non-emergency surgeries removed from the acute hospitals in both Cork and Tralee.
However, delays have dogged the schedule. Plans set out in December 2023 by the Department of Health to have construction start in 2026 and finish in 2027 fell by the wayside.
Last year Derek Tierney, who is now the secretary general at the department, said the plan was to have the Cork site “up to shovel-ready status” within five years so by 2030.
Since then the HSE has been working on this.
HSE south west regional executive officer Dr Andy Philips has now said that the HSE is continuing to work to progress the detailed design works for the new hospital.
In response to concerns raised by local patient advocates, he wrote on June 11: “The aim is to submit a planning application in the second half of 2026.”
The letter says design work includes looking at how patients and staff can move through the building and campus.
It will be built in Glanmire on the St Stephen’s Hospital campus. It is understood that road access is a key sticking point.
Cork City Council has previously said it is “fully supportive” of the plans and this has not changed it indicated this week.
it said some months ago.
The letter from Dr Philips also refers to plans for a surgical hub which is being built on the Cork University Hospital campus.
The opening date for this remains September this year and it will also deliver elective non-emergency care, the letter indicates.
The hubs were initially announced as a group of six but will now also include Sligo and Letterkenny.
So far the only hub open is in south Dublin, even though the first six hubs were expected to open by 2024.
It emerged this month that two medical consultants are taking separate judicial reviews about the right to offer private healthcare in the hubs.
The government has said the plan is to only offer public care in the hubs, as is the plan going forward for the hospitals.
This means private health insurance will not be accepted to cover costs at the new hubs. It means there will be only one waiting list for surgeries and other care – the public list.
A new contract being rolled out for consultants offers public-only work in HSE hospitals. Private work can only be done outside of contracted hours and off-site.
App?
