{"id":532697,"date":"2026-07-04T13:02:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532697\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T13:02:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:02:57","slug":"ieexplains-why-is-the-health-minister-so-critical-of-hse-south-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532697\/","title":{"rendered":"ieExplains: Why is the health minister so critical of HSE South West?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the “idea of a person from Cork who is lying on trolleys in CUH while there is an empty bed in Mallow is an immoral use of the taxpayers’ money”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s an immoral way to care for patients in the broader community,” she told the Irish Examiner on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the D\u00e1il last week, when Fianna F\u00e1il Cork East TD James O\u2019Connor<\/a> asked about health funding for Youghal, she again referred to empty beds in Mallow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Deputy will forgive me if I am not racing to advance additional infrastructure in the South West until they make sure they manage the resources they have more effectively,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This led to an \u201cexpletive-ridden exchange\u201d afterwards between Mr O\u2019Connor and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, according to media reports.<\/p>\n

So what’s the issue with patients in Cork City travelling to Mallow for treatment?<\/p>\n

Anecdotally, some people are delighted to leave busy wards in CUH, the Mercy, or even University Hospital Kerry to finish their care in Mallow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some managed to avoid CUH completely as the Model 2 site in Mallow now offers some elective surgeries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, other examples shared with this reporter are of patients from Cork city at CUH who refused to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some said relatives could not get to Mallow to visit, especially older people who do not drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patients in Tralee have also refused for distance reasons. In some cases, this includes people living in east Kerry, which is close to Mallow, but there remains a negative perception about being sent out of the county for treatment.<\/p>\n

\"EarlierEarlier this month, the health minister officially opened the extension at Mallow General Hospitalincluding 24 further beds. File picture: Picture Denis Minihane<\/p>\n

It is also argued that the public is not yet fully aware of the level of change and the services offered in Mallow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patients have doubts about the care there despite Hiqa inspectors finding \u201chigh quality care, safe and reliable healthcare services in Mallow General Hospital\u201d last year.<\/p>\n

What does Mallow General Hospital offer?<\/p>\n

Expanded services now include a medical assessment unit, 95 in-patient beds, endoscopy and elective surgery for day procedures, as well as scans, outpatient care, and an injuries unit.<\/p>\n

What does the HSE say?<\/p>\n

In relation to the trolley crisis and overcrowding, the HSE said: \u201cHSE South West notes the Minister\u2019s comments regarding pressures at Cork University Hospital and fully acknowledges the ongoing challenges associated with high demand and patient flow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It said Mallow does take patients from the bigger hospitals, and this includes bringing \u201cnorth Cork patients closer to home prior to final discharge\u201d.<\/p>\n

Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the “idea of a person from Cork who is lying on trolleys in CUH…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[21911,13502,79,103,397,4892,396,2120,61,60],"class_list":["post-532697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-hospital-overcrowding","tag-ieexplains","tag-cork-news","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-health-news","tag-healthcare","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}