Management, clinicians and staff at Cork University Hospital are in a mounting disagreement with the HSE and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill over staff and resources at the South-West region’s biggest hospital.

Trolleys are mounting up at the hospital’s Emergency Department and as the health service faces into the winter season, staff and management fear a tragic incident if resourcing is not urgently addressed.

Last week CUH boss Jennifer Kearney wrote to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to say the hospital was unsafe for patients and staff.

“My responsibility as chief executive is not simply to comply with a process," she wrote. "It is to speak clearly when I believe that process is creating a foreseeable risk to patients and staff.

"I would rather raise that concern now, when there is still an opportunity to act, than remain silent and explain afterwards why we did not.”

The Minister hit back in an interview on RTE radio, saying there was “no evidence” the hospital was unsafe - but medical staff at the hospital have since rowed in on the CEO’s side.

So, is the hospital safe or not?

Irish Examiner Health Correspondent Niamh Griffin gets into the detail of the dispute at CUH on today’s episode.

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