A PLAN by the HSE for the reconfiguration of emergency services in Cork and Kerry hospitals will be published in mid-October, the consultant charged with overseeing the project has revealed.
Prof John Higgins said the plan will involve a restructuring of emergency services at the five acute hospitals in Cork and at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee. He insisted it will lead to improved care and greater efficiency.
The working group which drew up the plan is chaired by consultant in emergency medicine, Dr Stephen Cusack, and has looked at emergency service provision at Cork University Hospital (CUH), the Mercy Hospital, the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital, Bantry General Hospital, Mallow General Hospital and Kerry General Hospital.
But proposals to centralise 24-hour emergency services at CUH, with the emergency department at the Mercy being reduced to 12 hours, has led to considerable criticism, while fears have also been expressed that Bantry and Mallow may lose their emergency services.
But Prof Higgins said there will now be a different approach to emergency hospital admissions, with medical assessment and medical admission units being established in each hospital.
He said that the majority of patients who are admitted as emergency cases to the smaller hospitals are patients with medical conditions such as heart failure or stroke, and they will continue to be treated in the smaller hospitals.
However, rather than being admitted through an emergency department, they will now be first brought to a medical assessment unit and, if deemed in need of admission, then sent to a medical admission unit which will admit them.
