Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will touch on two other Cork-related matters. One relates to the management structure in Cork University Hospital. I understand that the staff of the hospital must go through a whole series of processes to get any change done, including in respect of work within the hospital etc. The main hospitals in Dublin, by contrast, have direct access to people at higher levels in the HSE and within the Department of Health and can get decisions almost overnight.

However, in Cork University Hospital, CUH, which is one of the biggest hospitals in the country, management has no powers to take decisions regarding the changes it wants to make. Is that going to be reconfigured? As a result of HIQA intervention in community healthcare services, there are 240 fewer community beds in the Cork-Kerry region than four years ago. What engagement are we going to have with HIQA if on the one hand it wants a higher standard and on the other hand, the HSE is not then able to put in place the replacement for what is being removed.