22 May 2023
By Bryan McCarthy
bryan@TheCork.ie
Socialist Party TD Mick Barry this morning criticised huge fees being paid to management consultants by CUH at the same time as the hospital’s services remain stretched to breaking point.
His comments come in the wake of an Irish Examiner report which reveals that the hospital spent €608,252 on management consultancy fees in the three months from October to the end of last year.
The fees were paid to management consultancy firm PwC who employed a team of 23 to develop a “transformation and improvement programme” for the CUH group of hospitals.
Figures are not yet available for what has been paid in 2023 to date with concerns rising that the bill may have already risen above the €1m mark.
It is understood that the INMO wrote to HSE management nationally to ask that the arrangement be stood down.
Deputy Barry said this morning: “I’d be concerned about what seems to be a huge bill that is mounting up for this piece of work. If the total amount paid out to date is not yet available I’d like it to available soon and made public. I think it’s completely understandable that there is discontent among hospital staff at the huge payouts being made at a time when hospital services are stretched to breaking point and trolley numbers have gone through the roof. I think that questions about all this are going to now be asked by the public too.”
