Services extended at Nenagh Hospital

UL Hospitals Group has been approved for a multi-million euro funding package that will extend the operational hours of Medical Assessment Units in Nenagh and St John’s hospitals from five to seven days a week.

The HSE said the funding allocation resulted in the medical assessment units opening on every day of the week, coming into effect from last weekend. Up to now the units did not open on Saturdays and Sundays.

The HSE’s National Acute Hospital Division has approved the Group’s application for €5.2m to provide the necessary staffing resources at Nenagh and Saint John’s. The Medical Assessment Unit in Ennis already operates seven days a week and the UL Hospitals Group says the funding received will ensure it continues to do so.

Recruitment has been ongoing for additional staff across a number of specialties for the services provided in the units, including medical doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, health and social care professionals and administrative staff.

The HSE said the units are not a walk-in service - referrals to the service are via GPs. “The extended opening hours, with all three units open seven days a week, will create an additional total of 7,176 patient slots per annum across the three sites, significantly enhancing the acute medical healthcare referral alternatives available to GPs over the weekends,” the HSE stated. It said the investment will provide further support for the recently introduced ‘999 Ambulance Protocol’ service for appropriate medical patients in the Medical Assessment Units at Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals.

welcomed

Ennis-based General Practitioner, Dr Bruce O’Donnell, said: “General Practitioners in the Mid-West are delighted at this announcement to increase services and availability at the Medical Assessment Units across the region. The MAUs provide a valuable, vital and timely service to GPs and patients, and have done for many years.

Dr O’Donnell added: “The Trojan efforts of all staff involved in delivering this service, including clinicians, nurses, support staff and the staff in the Bed Bureau, has been a lifeline to General Practice in the management of complex cases during turbulent times in the health service over the past number of years. This move will have a very positive impact for all stakeholders in the Midwest and help alleviate the pressures on our colleagues in the Emergency Department and UHL.”

In 2022, more than 12,737 patients were referred to the medical assessment units in Nenagh, St John’s and Ennis, taking pressure off Limerick University Hospital.