Cllr. Ted Tynan
Cork Workers’ Party councillor Ted Tynan has called for an immediate assurance from Health Minister Simon Harris that under no circumstances will the Emergency Department of the city’s Mercy University Hospital be allowed to close or downgrade services.
Cllr. Tynan said that leaked information from the Department of Health’s Trauma Steering Group in today’s Sunday Business Post suggesting the closure of Emergency Departments in nine hospitals around the country is deeply worrying. He pointed out that Cork’s Mercy University hospital ED is the only one of those earmarked for closure which is located in a major city
The Workers’ Party Councillor said: “In recent times we have seen the closure of the Emergency Department at the South Infirmary / Victoria hospital leaving a large swathe of the city without emergency cover. Services at Mallow and Bantry have also been terminated. Closing the Mercy Emergency Department would put unsustainable pressure on the already critical situation at Cork University Hospital leaving it as the only ED in the entire county of Cork which has a population of well over half a million people”.
“There is an urgent need for absolute clarity on the future of the Mercy Emergency Department, not in the form of a meaningless holding statement from a Minister, but an absolute assurance that the Mercy’s Emergency services are secure on a long-term basis. It is to be doubted whether CUH on its own could cope in the event of a major emergency in the area. One only has to visit that hospital’s Emergency Department on a Friday or Saturday night to see that the closure of the ED at the Mercy would bring it to breaking point”, said Cllr. Tynan.