Streamlined service to cut out duplication, says director

THE AIM of the HSE South hospital reconfiguration is to provide the best healthcare system for people in Cork and Kerry through the establishment of an integrated hospital network and the elimination of duplicated services, said reconfiguration director Prof John Higgins.

Prof Higgins said the plan’s recommendations were based on the input of more than 40 subgroups representing the medical and surgical specialities in Cork and Kerry on how hospital services should be structured in the region.

Patients would be streamlined on entry to the hospital system and be referred to the appropriate hospital, said Prof Higgins, adding the plan would involve consultants working in specialist teams covering a number of hospitals rather than just one.

It would also involve the introduction of a single referral system being developed by GPs to enable them to make referrals online from their surgery, and a single patient identifier ensuring patients can be easily identified when accessing treatment at different hospitals.

Hospitals will also be able to electronically share diagnostic results such as blood tests, scans, and X-rays so that if a patient has tests in a hospital, they won’t have to repeat the test if they go to another hospital, he said.

HSE South regional director of operations Pat Healy said no global figure had been calculated for either the savings that could be made from the planned efficiencies or the investment required to update and standardise systems.

However, he pointed out HSE South had achieved savings of €79 million last year to come within its 2010 budget allocation of €2.079 billion and he was confident it could effect further savings that could be reinvested in the new services.

Mercy University Hospital chief executive Pat Madden said the reconfiguration confirmed the key role the Mercy would continue to play in the region, while South Infirmary Victoria chief Ger O’Callaghan said it also confirmed his hospital’s role in the delivery of acute services.

Meanwhile, Prof Higgins said HSE South had a long-term vision to build a new hospital in the next 10-15 years for specialist elective in-patients and day patients, to complement the acute services of Cork University Hospital.

“We would see it providing a new home for the Mercy and the South Infirmary Victoria over time,” said Prof Higgins, adding the restructuring of the hospital services proposed in the Reconfiguration Roadmap would facilitate such a development when the economy improved.