CUH and HSE hold high-level talks as minister urged to visit hospital

High-level talks between Cork University Hospital (CUH) management and HSE representatives at regional and national levels took place on Thursday over the ongoing crisis at the facility.

It comes as a leading consultant publicly challenged health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to visit the hospital and hear staff concerns first-hand.

The meetings continued into the evening and focused on concerns around staffing numbers and potential patient safety issues.

Earlier, Professor Greg Fulton, chair of the CUH consultant staff committee, said the hospital was “really quite short on staff at the moment” and warned of growing concerns ahead of winter.

Responding to comments made on Wednesday by Ms Carroll MacNeill, Prof Fulton said: “In fairness the minister, rather than take a crack at our CEO who’s been outstanding, all she simply has to do is to get in the car and come to Cork and talk to us, talk to the staff, and we’ll be able to explain what our problems are.” 

Questioned minister's reliance on assessments 

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Prof Fulton questioned the minister's reliance on assessments by the National Patient Safety Office (NPSO) over the views of clinicians and hospital management.

The NPSO has reported no increase in patient safety concerns at CUH.

A spokeswoman for Ms Carroll MacNeill said the NPSO provides an "important assurance mechanism as part of the system and does not replace or overrule concerns of managers, clinicians, or patients themselves".

She added that CUH remains compliant with the national safe staffing framework on nurse numbers.

“The available evidence recognises specific service pressures but does not show that CUH as a whole is unsafe or generally under-resourced,” she said.

Such pressures include emergency department attendances that are rising faster than in many other hospitals.

The spokesperson added that growth in activity had been outpaced by increases in staffing and expenditure.