THE HEAD of surgery at Cork University Hospital has called for the establishment of a specialist paediatric surgical unit outside of Dublin to cater for the growing number of children from the south of the country needing surgical intervention.
Prof Paul Redmond, head of surgery at Cork University Hospital and University College Cork, said the increasing emphasis on subspecialisation meant the days of general surgeons carrying out paediatric surgery were likely to be numbered.
"Paediatric surgery happens at a few sites in Dublin - at Crumlin, Temple Street and a small amount in Tallaght - and those performing the surgery are trained paediatric surgeons; they don't do adult surgery whereas the likes of myself do both adult and children," he said.
"Today, everybody wants to subspecialise and the days of combining general surgery and paediatric surgery is not going to happen into the future and you're faced then with the problem of having to send every single sick child in an ambulance up to Dublin."
Prof Redmond said that a similar situation in both Limerick Regional Hospital and Waterford Regional Hospital, where general surgeons also carry out paediatric procedures, would pose problems for both hospitals as subspecialisation grows.
It was clear that there was a need to establish a paediatric surgical centre outside of Dublin and Cork University Hospital was well positioned both geographically and in terms of facilities to accommodate such a centre, he said.
Prof Redmond said he had proposed such a move at a debate at the College of Surgeons last week and he expected a consensus report from the meeting would make such a recommendation when it is issued within the coming months.
"To my mind, Cork University Hospital is the place to put a second centre with properly trained paediatric surgeons outside of Dublin - you have a brand new maternity hospital here and the biggest neonatal unit in Europe and you already have paediatric wards here."
Prof Redmond said the British Association of Paediatric Surgery recommends centres with four general paediatric surgeons and one paediatric urologist for a population catchment similar to Munster. The Cork unit would cost €2-€4 million to establish.
"The wards are already in existence, you would need to identify an operating theatre so a lot of the resources are there, it would primarily have staffing implications - specialised paediatric nurses are already here but you would probably need a paediatric anaesthetist," he said.