CUH staff 'fearful' of meetings amid recording concerns

Resumen detallado

The Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive has claimed staff at Cork University Hospital are fearful of attending meetings amid concerns they might be recorded.

The Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive has claimed staff at Cork University Hospital are fearful of attendings meeting amid concerns they might be recorded.

Anne O'Connor was speaking as controversy grows around the facility after its CEO Jennifer Kearney warned the HSE, in a letter leaked to the media, how a shortfall of around 1,000 staff meant the hospital would not be safe going into winter.

Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, Ms O'Connor downplayed staffing and safety concerns at CUH but did acknowledge staff at the hospital were not working together effectively.

"What worries me probably the most at the minute is the number of staff that I speak to in the hospital who are really very upset about what is going on, who are fearful of going to meetings because they fear they may be recorded. That [applies to] staff within the hospital and staff from outside the hospital going into meetings," she said.

"So, we have reached a point where people are just not working together effectively and my ask of everybody is that we get into open and transparent conversations," she added.

Seventy patients waited on trolleys on Monday at CUH while earlier this month nine clinical directors at CUH wrote to Taoiseach Micheál Martin about ongoing staffing issues.

However, Ms O'Connor dismissed the need for an independent assessment of staff needs at CUH, despite senior clinicians at the hospital calling on the Taoiseach for one.

"To be honest, I don't think we need it. We can look at the staff complements. We can see the census, we can see the figures", she said, while stressing that staffing at the hospital has grown in 2026.

"We know that they have a significant number of staff. The challenge now is to ensure that we have the right staff in the right place at the right time," she added.

Inicio del artículo, extracto de RTÉ. Para leer el resto, abra el artículo en el sitio del medio.