Surgical hub at Cork University Hospital may be delayed due to staffing issues
James Cox
The opening of a new surgical hub at Cork University Hospital (CUH) may be delayed due to staffing difficulties.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is balloting theatre workers for industrial action, due to persistent staffing and patient flow issues.
The surgical hub is earmarked to open in September and will have the capacity to conduct thousands of procedures every year.
However, Liam Conway of the INMO said this cannot happen until the main theatre at CUH is fully staffed.
Conway told Newstalk: "There's political pressure to open these surgical hubs but we'd say to the public... if you don't have safe, you shouldn't be opening [new] services, it's not safe to do so.
"So common sense needs to prevail in this situation, which is shore up the campus, make sure the main theatre is safe, and then we'll move on to the surgical hub."
