New hospital groups represent biggest reform in the history of Irish healthcare – Harrington

Fine Gael Cork South West has hailed the reorganisation of public hospitals in Ireland as the most significant reform of the healthcare system in the history of the State.

“The decision to group our hospitals into six groups will allow for better management, shared services and the retention of healthcare staff. Under the plan, which was announced today by the Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly, our hospitals will become safer, our waiting lists will be reduced and we will cut the number of trolleys in our A&E.

“This framework will see Bantry General Hospital; Cork University Hospital, incorporating Cork University Maternity Hospital; Waterford Regional Hospital; Kerry General Hospital; Mercy University Hospital; South Tipperary General Hospital; South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital; Mallow General Hospital and Lourdes Orthopaedic Hospital, Kilcreene come together under the South/South West Group.

“Each group will include a cancer centre, a maternity hospital and a named academic partner who will focus on enhancing research, training and education potential within the group for better service delivery. In the case of the South/South West Group, the primary academic partner is University College Cork (UCC).

“For too long we have thrown money at our health service, with no time being taken to actually reform the services being provided. We have some of the best trained medics in the world, many of who we lose overseas. It is high time we got our house in order in terms of the culture that has built up over years, and delivered a healthcare service that is worthy of the patients who use it and the staff who work in it.

“Where smaller hospitals like Bantry are concerned, the potential for increased activity are huge. This plan aims to transfer services from bigger hospitals to the smaller ones, allowing them to develop specialist practices which will allow patients to be treated at the lowest level of complexity, as close to home as possible in the most effective, efficient and timely manner.

“Before the transfer of groups to independent trust, a review will be carried out to ensure that services have not only been maintained at smaller hospitals like Bantry but that they have been enhanced. This reform is long overdue. We have always said that reform of this scale will not happen overnight but today’s announcement marks another step along the road to a world-class health service for all of our people.”
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