2 October 2019
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Jim Daly TD, minister for Mental Health and Older People
Picture: David Keane.
The Minister of State at the Department of Health Jim Daly TD has confirmed that podiatry services provided at Bantry General Hospital are set to increase. Confirmation was provided to the Minister by the Chief Executive Officer of the South West Hospital group Mr. Gerry Dwyer, at a meeting at Bantry on Monday.
The Minister said “services like podiatry that provide foot specialist services such as skin surgery and nail surgery are the classic type of services we need to be expanding at the hospital. They ensure that West Cork residents do not have to take on the arduous journey from places like the Mizen and Bantry, to Cork University Hospital which can be a 260km round trip. The majority of patients that avail of these services are older people, being treated nearer to home makes the world of difference to them”.
“It is my vision for Bantry, to radically increase the number of other day procedures being carried out at the hospital. Currently the operating theatre at Bantry general is operating two days per week. Plans I have been working on with the management of the hospital and the hospital group to make the theatre operational five days per week are at an advanced stage, I hope to be able to make a further announcement in this regard in the coming months”, concluded Minister Daly.
