Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank each of the delegates for his or her submission. I have three questions, the first of which relates to the issue of centralisation of emergency department trauma services. I direct the question specifically to Mr. O'Callaghan who made reference to it. I think he expressed a degree of confidence that CUH would be chosen to have one of the two key trauma centres in the State. I understand it will also involve the closure of the emergency department at the Mercy University Hospital and the centralisation of services at CUH.

Will a trauma steering group look at the issue on paper to see the advantages, but in dealing with the reality of overcrowding will we get the opposite result? For example, anyone who visits the emergency department in CUH, particularly on a Friday or a Saturday night, will know that it experiences overcrowding which sometimes is severe. With the potential closure of the emergency department in a nearby hospital and the centralisation of services without massive extra resources being provided at CUH in this case, it seems to be a recipe for disimprovement rather than improvement. Rather than asking it as a parochial question, I ask Mr. O'Callaghan to generalise because I understand the trauma steering group is considering the closure of nine emergency departments and the centralisation of services. The result could end up being negative rather than positive, unless massive resources are put in place.

My second question is on pharma and is to the south-south west group but perhaps Dr. Healy might be interested in taking this question. The group's opening statement states, "We are actively fostering our relationship with industry especially the multinational pharma companies based in Cork to develop our services and realise the economic benefit for our population". Can the witnesses elaborate on that? Does the hospital group receive funding from the pharma industry? There was an article in The Sunday Business Post two weeks ago about pharma funding for hospitals and the health services generally. If funding is received, to what extent and how much money is involved and what is the money for? Has the pharma industry paid for job positions? Do clinical leads in the hospitals receive payment from pharma companies? I would like more precise information about the relationship with the pharma industry in that regard.

Finally, I have a question that may be a bit parochial. Reference was made to a new hospital site in Cork city - an amalgamation of the South Infirmary Victoria University and the Mercy University hospitals. That has been talked about for some time. Can the witnesses give the committee an update on that situation? In order to make it less parochial and more of a general point, maybe some comment could be made around the type of timescale for these changes in the health service. Are things going more quickly or more slowly than had been anticipated originally?