The response was incredible. The recruitment day was due to run between 12 noon and 3pm, but people were queuing from 8am. By noon the queue was all the way around corner onto St Michael’s Drive and down to the main road. See here.

Queues snaked out of City Gate and along St Michael's Road

Almost 500 people attended the recruitment day, with half of those being nurses. By people came from all over the south of Ireland, from as far afield as Kerry and Waterford; ten people even came down from Dublin. This not too surprising as there had been extensive media coverage about the event on page of the Irish Examiner and page 6 of the Irish Independent, both local radio stations, Red FM and Cork’s 96 FM as well as national radio stations, Today FM, Newstalk and Radio 1, which culminated in piece on RTE’s Six One TV News, which you can view here: http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0119/corkmedicalcentre.html#video

This demand led to the open day running on until 4.30pm to ensure everybody was seen too and ensure they also got to see the facility. The Irish Examiner sent a photographer down to cover that day and did a follow up piece below, which also appeared on page 2, by their local news reporter Eoin English see below:

Coverage from Page 2 of today's Irish Examiner

Below is a link to the article on the web and we have also pasted in text

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/almost-500-compete-for-100-jobs-at-new-hospital-142988.html

Cork Medical Centre, Ireland’s newest hospital, is having a Public Open Day on Saturday 20^th November. Everyone is welcome to visit this state-of-the-art-facility between 10am and 4pm – there will be hospital tours throughout the day.

The €90m private hospital is the first new private hospital to open in Cork for 90 years. Opened in Mahon last month, it is the first hospital in Ireland to provide all single ensuite bedrooms. This is the last chance for visitors to see the six cutting edge Opitz and Flierl operating theatres, the 75 single ensuite bedrooms, or get up close with the hospital’s CT and MRI scanners.

Free blood pressure tests will be provided to all visitors and face painting will be on hand for children.

It was recently announced that the Cork Medical Centre is to be covered for 80% Quinn Healthcare and Aviva customers; both companies will be on hand during the Open Day to give people advice on healthcare and answer any questions they have about their health plans, taking out a health insurance plan or how to switch providers. They’ll also be running giveaways for prizes on the day.

According to Philip Sheehan, the Chief Operating Officer of Cork Medical Centre: “The hospital is very special, this type of facility has not been provided in Cork before. We want to use the Public Open Day on Saturday 20^th November to show the people of Cork what fantastic facility they have on their doorstep. We need to close the operating theatres to visitors soon, so this is the last chance for people to see the inside of an operating theatre and the incredible scanners that we have here.”

For further details please call the hospital on 021 601 3200. The last tour of the day will start at 3pm.

-ENDS-

The Cork Medical Centre, City Gate, Mahon, Cork.

The Cork Medical Centre, Cork City’s  newest private hospital, the first to open for thirty years, will open it’s doors on 16th September, 2010.

Developed and operated by Sheehan Medical, the €90 million facility will house the latest medical technology from Siemens Healthcare, making it the most technologically advanced hospital ever developed in Ireland.

The Cork Medical Centre will be a 5 star facility providing 75 single in-patient bedrooms, fully sealed with the latest in infection control.  The main focus of the hospital will be surgery; there will be four operating theatres and a same day surgery centre with 20 out-patient beds.

The 135,000 sq ft hospital has the capacity to offer over 39,000 patient treatments per year.

The hospital will also house an intensive care unit; radiology facilities with MRI / CT / X-ray scanners; a cardiology and neuroscience facility. International accreditation, benchmarking and auditing will be provided by an internationally renowned healthcare organization.

“We are delighted to be able to confirm the official opening date and already we have consultants and other medical staff moving into the complex to prepare for the opening,” said Cork Medical Centre’s Chief Operating Officer Philip Sheehan.

All of the big three health insurers are expected to confirm they will cover the hospital in the coming weeks. “We have had positive talks from the VHI since September 2007 and expect to confirm the details in the coming weeks and we are also at advanced stages of confirming with both Aviva and Quinn Healthcare. Cork is massively under-serviced when it comes to private beds with less than half the number per capita.” said Mr Sheehan.

The Cork Medical Centre is the Sheehan’s third venture in Ireland – as they are one of the founders and major shareholders of the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin and the Galway Clinic, both covered by all three health insurers. The group also has strong links with the Loyola University Health System in Chicago – one of the world’s largest health centres and renowned for its research, development and pioneering approach to new treatments.

The opening of the state-of-the art hospital is a major milestone in the development of the City Gate Medical Campus which already houses the largest VHI SwiftCare Clinic in the country and the VHI Medical Centre.

“People of the region deserve a new facility like this on their doorstep rather than having to make a journey elsewhere for the most modern treatment available in world medicine.  A lot of our existing patients in both Blackrock and the Galway clinics are commuting form the Cork area already” added Mr Sheehan.

More photos and videos of the hospital can be viewed at the Cork Medical Centre’s Facebook page http://www.tinyurl.ie/5q. You can also use the Facebook page to ask the Sheehan Medical team questions about the hospital.

Ends

Major contract awarded by Cork Medical Centre to supply and finance the latest medical diagnostic technology.

4^th July, 2010. Cork Ireland: Cork is due to get the Ireland’s most high-tech hospital following an announcement today by Irish private hospital operator, Sheehan Medical, that Siemens Healthcare has been awarded the €8.5m contract to provide the healthcare technology and financing for their new private hospital, the Cork Medical Centre.

The new €90m hospital will open in Cork in the September and will be the first new private hospital facility to open in the city for 30 years. Owned by the Sheehan Medical, the Cork Medical Centre will be a technology driven hospital that will lead the field with the newest and most promising interventions for stroke, brain tumours, back pain and other sites of chronic pain.

According to James Sheehan, the Chief Executive of Sheehan Medical, he said a key factor in choosing Siemens was their ability to provide the latest technology to enhance clinical outcomes, plus their ability to support it with financing, ICT and project management ‘‘We have first class technology in all our hospitals and aim to make the Cork Medical Centre the most high-tech facility ever developed in Ireland. Siemens is an important part of this aim, their ability to provide an integrated approach that covers innovative technology will allow us levels of diagnosis and treatment that will be in unsurpassed in this country. The success of this deal marks the next stage of the on-going five year relationship with Siemens whose technology we have used extensively before.”

The contract includes financing for all the hospitals equipment from Siemens Financial Services, the company’s first deal in Ireland. Approximately half €7m the total is for technology from Siemens Healthcare, including a suite of state-of-the-art equipment, including its flagship angiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT), x-ray and ultrasound equipment (specific details on the equipment are outlined in the Notes To Editors below).

Kevin Dand, Head of Siemens Healthcare in Ireland, stated “We were keen to partner with Sheehan Medical in a vision to provide the best in surgical and diagnostic services. The technology advancements of our imaging equipment will assist Cork Medical Centre in their mission to offer a much quicker, safer and seamless journey for the patient, improving the speed of diagnosis and treatment.”

Increasingly patients and physicians prefer minimally invasive therapy over surgery because of the reduced recovery time. “With the Artis zee Bi-plane technology, these interventions can be much quicker. Cork Medical Centre will take delivery of the latest bi-plane technology, enhancing the clinicians’ ability to diagnose, guide and treat the disease whether cardiac, neuro or oncology,” explains Dand.

The Cork Medical Centre will be a 5 star facility providing 75 single in-patient bedrooms, fully sealed with the latest in infection control.  The main focus of the hospital will be surgery; there will be four operating theatres and a same day surgery centre with 20 out-patient beds.  The hospital, which is located at the City Gate Complex in Mahon Point, will have a strong focus on neurology and cardiology.

The hospital will also house an intensive care unit; radiology a cardiology, oncology and neuroscience facility. International accreditation, benchmarking and auditing will be provided by an internationally renowned healthcare organisation

For further information please contact: Simon Palmer, at Republic on + 353 (0) 851 341 761 or email: simon@republicpr.ie

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Siemens’ technology

Siemens Healthcare will provide a suite of equipment including its flagship angiography system, the Artis zee bi-plane flat panel detector, a revolutionary new system for advanced imaging in interventional radiology, cardiology and neuroradiology investigations.

Siemens Enterprise Communications will provide a turnkey Information and Communications Healthcare Network focused on productivity, security and mobility; delivering complete access to clinical information and patient workflows from any device, regardless of location.

Siemens is also delivering state-of-the-art equipment in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). The Siemens’ Magnetom Essenza MRI system, which due to its 1.5T field strength, will allow CMC to deliver superior image quality and offer greater diagnostic confidence to support a complete range of clinical applications, including neurology, orthopaedics, body imaging, angiography, cardiology, breast imaging, oncology and paediatric imaging.

The Essenza also offers shorter scan times increasing productivity, due to its revolutionary TIM (total imaging matrix) technology, which eliminates the need for patient repositioning during scans. Additionally, the Essenza’s ultra-short bore design will alleviate concerns of claustrophobia, since many patients can be imaged with their head outside of the bore.

The Somatom Definition AS 64 brings together high-end CT imaging including neuro CT scanning. With 64 slice imaging, the AS provides physicians with more information to detect and diagnose conditions earlier. Siemens is also delivering additional x-ray and ultrasound equipment.

Key elements of the High Availability solution are Siemens OpenScape SIP based Voice & Unified Communications Server – a carrier class architecture based completely on Open Standards for third party application integration , Enterasys Secure Networks LAN and Wireless LAN using the latest 802.11n technology for immediate access to information from mobile devices, an EMC Storage Area Network, VMware Virtualised Server & Client Environment from our technology partners, Fujitsu and a Nextgen Technologies Triple Play IPTV Patient Entertainment Solution.

About Sheehan Medical

Sheehan Medical was set up to operate private hospitals in the UK, Britain and mainland Europe. The company is operated by Chief Executive, James Sheehan, and his father Dr Joseph Sheehan C.M., who is Chairman.

Sheehan Medical’s aim is to bring best practice in US medical techniques and standards to Ireland. The company prides itself in combining the operation of first class medical facilities with a successful business model. The unique share holding structure allows doctors and consultants to buy into the ownership of their hospitals and share in the financial success.

An active surgeon for over 35 years Sheehan Medical’s Chairman, Dr Joseph Sheehan, along with his brother Dr Jimmy Sheehan, both Dublin natives, were two of the founders of the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin, which opened in 1984. In January 2006, he was part of a small group that purchased the controlling interest in the Blackrock Clinic from BUPA. An €80m expansion project is currently underway.

In 2004 he again partnered with his brother Jimmy to open the Galway Clinic, which received international recognition and re-established Dr. Sheehan’s commitment to raising healthcare standards through dedication to quality improvement and technological advances.  Further information can be found by visiting http://ww.sheehanmedical.com or http://www.corkmedicalcentre.com

About Siemens

Siemens is a global company providing products, systems, services and solutions for the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. The company employs over 1,000 highly skilled people in Ireland and has offices in Dublin and Cork.

Siemens Healthcare is one of the world’s largest suppliers to the healthcare industry. The company is a renowned medical solutions provider with core competence and innovative strength in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies as well as in knowledge engineering, including information technology and system integration. Siemens Healthcare is the first integrated healthcare company, bringing together imaging and lab diagnostics, therapy and healthcare information technology solutions. Siemens Healthcare delivers solutions across the entire continuum of care — from prevention and early detection, to diagnosis, therapy and care. Further information can be found by visiting http://www.siemens.ie

Siemens Enterprise Communications is a premier provider of end-to-end enterprise communications, including voice, network infrastructure and security solutions that use open, standards-based architectures to unify communications and business applications for a seamless collaboration experience. This award-winning “Open Communications” approach enables organizations to improve productivity and reduce costs through easy-to-deploy solutions that work within existing IT environments, delivering operational efficiencies. It is the foundation for the company’s OpenPath® commitment that enables customers to mitigate risk and cost-effectively adopt unified communications. Jointly owned by The Gores Group and Siemens AG, Siemens Enterprise Communications companies include Siemens Enterprise Communications, Cycos, and Enterasys Networks.  Further information can be found by visiting http://www.siemens-enterprise.com