The Workers Party
has reacted angrily to a leaked report in this morning’s Irish Examiner newspaper
(Wednesday) that acute services at the Mercy and South Infirmary / Victoria University hospitals are to be transferred to Cork University Hospital.
Cork North Central Workers
Party candidate Jackie Connolly said that if true, the move would have a devastating effect on acute treatments and would
endanger patients’ lives.
Ms. Connolly said that
the planned publication of the report four days after the June 5th election represented a new low for the HSE which,
she said, was now working to the political agenda of Fianna Fáil.
“Far from being
a centre of excellence as stated in the leaked HSE report, the CUH as a sole acute hospital for a population of over 600,000
people would be a centre of chaos. It simply could not deal with the demands
that would be put on it and relying on a co-located private hospital which would put profit before people’s lives is
a non-starter”, said Jackie Connolly.
Issued Wednesday, 20th
May 2009