{"id":539138,"date":"2026-07-08T11:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/539138\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:47:09","slug":"uncertainty-over-cuh-autopsies-if-sole-pathologist-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/539138\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainty over CUH autopsies if sole pathologist retires"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Justice is \u201cunaware\u201d of any contingency plans for the 1,000 autopsies<\/a> carried out each year at Cork University Hospital (CUH) if the sole pathologist in place leaves the position.<\/p>\n

CUH is one of Ireland\u2019s largest centres for autopsies, providing around 1,000 a year. Approximately 6,000 autopsies are conducted in Ireland annually.<\/p>\n

In a submission to justice minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan in September 2025, department civil servants wrote: \u201cThe current service in Cork\/Kerry is predominantly provided by a Cork-based histopathologist with help from two external locums.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis histopathologist also provides forensic PME [post-mortem examinations] services as a locum to the Office of the State Pathologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department is unaware of contingency plans for Cork should that histopathologist no longer be available to conduct coroner-directed PMEs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Bolster, the pathologist in question, is understood to be nearing her 70s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also works as the assistant state pathologist, investigating high-profile homicides and suspicious deaths. Her work is supported by two locum pathologists from Greece and Egypt. The Cork service also occasionally avails of Hungarian locum pathologists who are stationed at University Hospital Limerick.<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Margaret Bolster is the sole pathologist at CUH, and also serves as assistant State pathologist. Picture: IrishPhotoDesk<\/p>\n

The brief to Mr O\u2019Callaghan was prepared in September 2025 as autopsy services in University Hospital Waterford<\/a> faced an existential threat, as consultant pathologists left the hospital with no replacement.<\/p>\n

The service is now maintained by locum pathologists from Britain. The use of locum pathologists has become more frequent as Irish hospitals struggle to recruit pathologists.<\/p>\n

Warning to minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/p>\n

In the submission, Mr O\u2019Callaghan was warned that issues can arise \u201cparticularly during holiday periods such as Christmas and Easter when the locums can be unavailable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Callaghan was also told the Dublin District Mortuary was becoming overwhelmed with demand as three hospitals across Dublin shuttered their service over the past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pressure on Dublin service\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some 60% of all autopsies in Dublin are now conducted in the Dublin District Mortuary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The workload of the mortuary has considerably outgrown the building\u2019s operational capacity and a solution is urgently required, the submission warned.<\/p>\n

The facility was originally designed to conduct just 400 autopsies a year, but now operates at twice its capacity according to the chief state pathologist.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Callaghan wrote to health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill on the back of the submission, raising alarm bells over Ireland\u2019s autopsy services.<\/p>\n

He said the grace and favour model\u00a0\u2014 in which consultant pathologists conduct autopsies outside of hospital working hours \u2014 \u201cwas no longer sustainable or capable of meeting Irish cultural expectations concerning burial\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn urgent intervention is required on this matter to avoid a situation whereby relatives have to endure prolonged waiting times for the remains of their loved ones to be returned to them for cremation or burial becomes the norm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a response two months later, Ms Carroll MacNeill said: \u201cMy department, together with the HSE, remains fully committed to supporting the Department of Justice in addressing the urgent challenges within the coronial system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources in the sector have said autopsy services are \u201ccrisis\u201d and have struck issue with working conditions for pathologists and a lack of Government funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Justice is \u201cunaware\u201d of any contingency plans for the 1,000 autopsies carried out each year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[191786,79,42,4892,2120,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-539138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-waterford-news","tag-cork-news","tag-headlines","tag-health-news","tag-hse","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539138","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=539138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}