9 August 2021
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
ICSA president Dermot Kelleher has said that Bantry hospital must be fully open to assist the communities of West Cork and South Kerry. Mr Kelleher was speaking at the protest in Bantry held Sunday (8 August) organised by local community activists who are calling for an immediate end to the restrictions on admissions to the hospital.
“The HSE needs to fully resource Bantry hospital so that there is no reason for admissions to be restricted. It is literally a matter of life and death to expect people to go to Cork city which is very remote for people living on the Beara peninsula or anywhere west of Bantry.”
“The Minister for Health needs to come down here immediately in order to understand how it is not practical to have Bantry hospital out of commission. ICSA has many members in this region, and we support the local campaign here to get the hospital back up and running at full capacity. We need a full complement of consultants here. The truth is that the ambulance service to Cork is not able to cope and it makes no sense anyway to send people on that long journey.”
“This is not a patient centred approach. We want to see Bantry operating again as the primary care centre for people in this region.”
ICSA president Dermot Kelleher speaking at the protest held at Bantry Hospital
