Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick

This article is about the hospital in Limerick, Ireland. For other hospitals with similar names, see Mid-Western Regional Hospital.

Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick
Health Service Executive
Geography
Location	Dooradoyle, Limerick, County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland
Organisation
Care system	HSE
Hospital type	Regional
Services
Emergency department	Yes Accident & Emergency
Beds	522
Links
Lists	Hospitals in the Republic of Ireland

The Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick (also known as Limerick Regional Hospital" or "University Hospital Limerick) is a public^[1] hospital located in Dooradoyle, County Limerick, Ireland.^[2] It is managed by the Irish Government's Health Service Executive and provides acute-care hospital services, including a 24-hour emergency department,^[2] for the population of County Limerick, County Clare, and County Tipperary. In 2008, the hospital served 120,316 out-patients, and 23,014 in-patients, with an average stay of 5.8 nights.^[2] 72.8% of admissions were made via the accident and emergency department or 16,720 patients. In total, 56,528 patients presented to the emergency department in 2008. The hospital saw 20,143 day cases in the same year.^[2] In July 2011, it was reported that the hospital would undergo its third name change in five years to become University Hospital Limerick.^[3]

Services

The hospital provides 522 beds, of which 375 are in-patient acute beds, while 97 are reserved for acute day cases.^[2] A further 50 beds are for psychiatric services. In-patient services include general medicine, general surgery, geriatric assessment, psychiatry, accident and emergency, intensive care/critical care, cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, haematology, nephrology, neurology, oncology, palliative medicine, respiratory medicine, rheumatology, dental surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, maxillofacial surgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, otorhinolaryngology (ENT), vascular surgery, urology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, anaesthesia, radiology, and radiotherapy.^[2][4]

It is the location of the Mid-Western Cancer Centre.^[5]

Waiting times

The national median waiting time for surgery in November 2009 stood at 2.5 months; at Limerick Regional this figure was 2.7 months. Overall waiting time was 2.3 months, just below the national median of 2.4 months.^[6] As of November 2009,^[6] the National Treatment Purchase Fund listed the following waiting times for procedures:

Surgical

• adult patients waiting 3–6 months: 221
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 264
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 50
• child patients waiting 3–6 months: 49
• child surgical patients waiting 6–12 months: 41
• child surgical patients waiting over 12 months: 4

Medical

• adult patients waiting 3–6 months: 54
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 8
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 1
• child patients waiting 3–6 months: 1
• child patients waiting 6–12 months: 0
• child patients waiting over 12 months: 0

Hygiene

Independent audits rated hygiene levels as 65% satisfactory in 2005,^[7] rising to 85% in 2006.^[8] Hospital-acquired infection affected 5.1% of patients in 2007, with a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection rate of 0.14 per 1,000 bed days in 2008.^[2]

Nenagh hospital downgrading controversy

In 2009, Government plans to move certain services from Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Nenagh to Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, were met with protests from healthcare professionals and local residents, including a 4,000-person public demonstration.^[9][10][11] While there would still be 24-hour access for patients referred by GPs, all surgical emergencies would be dealt with in Limerick.^[12] The changes would mean an estimated 10 extra admissions per night at the Limerick emergency department.^[13]

See also

• Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis
• Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Nenagh

References

1. ^ "Public Hospitals in Ireland". Health Service Executive. 2007-05-01. http://www.hse.ie/eng/Find_a_service/Hospitals/Public_Hospitals_in_Ireland.html. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Mid-Western Regional Hospital". Health Service Executive. 2007-04-27. http://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/FactFile/County_Information/Limerick/Regional%20Hospital%20Dooradoyle%20Limerick/Mid-Western_Regional_Hospital.html. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
3. ^ http://www.imt.ie/news/latest-news/2011/07/limerick-regional-to-change-name-again.html
4. ^ "Mid-Western Cancer Centre". Mid-Western Cancer Centre. May 2010. http://www.midwesterncancercentre.ie/index.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
5. ^ "Mid-Western Cancer Centre". Mid-Western Cancer Centre. http://www.midwesterncancercentre.ie/index.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Report on The National Patient Treatment Register". The National Treatment Purchase Fund. November 2009. http://www.ptr.ie/pages/report/PTR_Report_200911.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
7. ^ "Report on a National Acute Hospitals Hygiene Audit undertaken on behalf of the National Hospitals Office, Health Service Executive". Health Service Executive. October 2005. http://www.hse.ie/eng/Staff/FactFile/FactFile_PDFs/Other_FactFile_PDFs/NHO/National_Acute_Hospital_Hygiene_Audit_Oct_2005.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
8. ^ "Report on the Second National Acute Hospitals Hygiene Audit" (PDF). Health Service Executive. June 2006. http://www.hse.ie/eng/Staff/FactFile/FactFile_PDFs/Other_FactFile_PDFs/NHO/National%20Acute%20Hospital%20Hygiene%20Audit,%20June%202006.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
9. ^ "Nenagh protest over A&E cutback plans". RTÉ. 2009-02-21. http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0221/nenagh.html. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
10. ^ O'Duffy, Simon (2009-02-28). "Hoctor and Lowry jeered at Nenagh hospital rally". The Nenagh Guardian. http://www.nenaghguardian.ie/news-detail.php?article=HGIC41. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
11. ^ "'Drastic changes' for Nenagh Hospital". Irishhealth.com. 2008-07-02. http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=13838. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
12. ^ "Consultant defends mid-west hospital plan". RateMyHospital.ie. 2009-01-13. http://www.ratemyhospital.ie/hosp_newsstory.html?artid=14897&sortcrit=chrono. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
13. ^ "Nenagh and Ennis hospital protests come to Limerick". The Limerick Blogger. 2009-03-16. http://www.limerickblogger.ie/blog/2009/03/nenagh-and-ennis-hospital-protests-come-to-limerick. Retrieved 2010-07-04.