Expansion of services at Nenagh Hospital

Services for patients with skin problems have been expanded at Nenagh hospital with the commencement of phototherapy treatment for common conditions such as psoriasis and eczema.
It means that patients from North Tipperary will be spared the time and expense of travelling to Limerick for regular light treatment. The expansion of dermatology services in Nenagh has been made possible through the generosity of the Friends of Nenagh Hospital, whose recent €30,000-plus donation covered the cost of the phototherapy cabinet. UL Hospitals Group is covering staffing and ancillary costs.
Sheila Ryan, advanced nurse practitioner candidate, dermatology, UL Hospitals Group, explained which patients would benefit from the new treatment: “It’s mainly for people with inflammatory skin disease such as psoriasis, eczema, and also T-cell lymphoma of the skin, or mycosis fungoides,” she said.
“The latter is rare but we do have patients with it. Some people then can develop allergies to the sun and this treatment can be used to desensitise sufferers as well. But the main group of patients using it have psoriasis and eczema. With the eczema population, we have children going into the machine from age of four upwards.
“It alleviates symptoms and for patients with eczema where you are either trying to give them a break from the strong creams or an alternative where creams are not working. In psoriasis, it can actually induce remission for six months or longer depending on the case.
“For both, it involves patients attending the hospital three times a week for six weeks and more. If you have eczema you are attending from 12 to 18 weeks for treatment and the treatments themselves take a short period of time ranging from seconds up to 10 minutes,” said Ms Ryan.
Phototherapy has been available at University Hospital Limerick since 2001 but that meant long and costly trips for patients like Thomas Bourke, from Carrigatoher, Nenagh. Mr Bourke (50) was diagnosed with psoriasis at 12 and has “used every kind of cream and been to every kind of quack, even as far away as Monaghan, to try and find a cure”.
Mr Bourke had previously undergone light therapy at UHL but jumped at the chance when it became available in his local hospital.
“It works for me. The psoriasis has faded everywhere and if I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt now you would never think I had it,” he said.
Having phototherapy available locally also saved Thomas the time and expense of travelling to Limerick for treatment.
“I actually turned down having it in Limerick when I was told it might be coming to Nenagh. I am only five miles from the town, on the Limerick side, and I can be in Nenagh hospital in 10 or 15 minutes where I could be 45 minutes going into Limerick. In Nenagh, my appointment time is 9.15am and I can be back in my car and on the way home at 9.30am. In Limerick, you could be 30 or 45 minutes waiting for the treatment and it is harder to get a convenient time so your whole day could be gone. Then there’s even simple things like parking, which is free in Nenagh but which costs you in Limerick. It’s great to have a service in Nenagh and we hope we can hold on to it now,” said Mr Bourke.
Ms Ryan said the machine donated by the Friends of Nenagh was the first of its kind in the country.
“In layman’s terms, it is like a stand-up sunbed and the bulbs in it are especially designed for patients with psoriasis and eczema. There are some really nice patient features such as better air-conditioning and it also looks a little more modern and snazzy, which children prefer.
“But it is not just about the treatment itself but the nurses who are here to advise and educate; to help with creams and all that goes together with that. We are also planning to bring on additional treatments now that we have the main piece of equipment in place. So we would be looking to develop patch testing for allergies, for example, for contact dermatitis and also looking at sourcing additional space for photodynamic treatment for skin cancer,” Ms Ryan explained.
Phototherapy is currently a four-day service in Nenagh but will expand to five. Ten patients have started receiving the treatment in Nenagh in recent weeks with capacity to double that to 20. At UHL, around 45 patients regularly receive phototherapy treatment.
“When I arrived in 2013, our waiting list was between six months to a year for this type of treatment,” said Ms Ryan.
“Now our waiting times at UHL are within a month and there is no waiting time in Nenagh; they can be seen as soon as they are ready. It’s more a matter of the time a patient can commit to rather than any delay in access. We do slots from 8am to accommodate people before work and until 4pm for kids coming after school. We see people throughout the day in both services. Patient satisfaction is usually high with this treatment; they see it as a treatment that helps them and also they learn by engaging with other patients coming in for the treatment and by getting tips from the nurses on managing their skin problems.”
Liam Gleeson, Chairman, Friends of Nenagh Hospital, said the charity was delighted to see their donation being put to good use.
“The Friends of Nenagh Hospital charity group are delighted to be able to secure this new dermatology service for Nenagh hospital. By having this service in Nenagh, it saves dermatology patients from all over North Tipperary having to travel and queue in Limerick hospital daily over a defined period of weeks. By having the service in Nenagh, it also brings patients from bordering counties to Nenagh to use the service, thus also helping the local economy as patients visit our town and spend their money,” Mr Gleeson said.
“The investment of over €30,000 in the phototherapy machine by the Friends is an investment in the future of Nenagh hospital which is matched by the commitment of the HSE to the hospital by providing the staffing and resource for the new service. Nenagh hospital has grown from strength to strength in recent years with its out-patient services and the Friends of Nenagh Hospital are very happy to be able to help with that progression. We are delighted to be able to use the funds donated by the public to our charity for these types of progressive projects at the hospital, and anyone wishing to donate to the Friends of Nenagh Hospital can do so at the boxes provided in the hospital, or directly by contacting 067 41332.”
Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group, thanked Friends of Nenagh Hospital for their continued support.
“We work very closely with the Friends of Nenagh in developing services in a targeted way for the good of patients in Tipperary and in the wider region. We are enormously grateful for their continued generosity and dermatology patients and their families are only the latest to see the benefits of that. We look forward to further co-operation and collaboration with the Friends to develop services and improve patient experiences into the future,” said Ms Cowan.