Tag Archives: hospital

A Quilty man has died in hospital following injuries sustained in an accident at his home in Caherush. Michael Mungovan, a bachelor believed to be in his early 70s, sustained head injuries after he apparently fell from a ladder while working at his home. He was discovered by a neighbour who raised the alarm and contacted the emergency services. The injured man was removed to hospital where he later passed away. A post mortem will be carried out and a report presented to the County Corner’s Office.

A SITE has been secured for the construction of a new €25 million St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis. The construction of the 100-bed, community nursing unit on five acres of Diocesan lands located near the Turnpike in Ennis will ensure that elderly care services remain at the heart of the county town, according to Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen. Deputy Breen said, “I am delighted that a site has been secured at this central location in Ennis for the construction of the new €25 million St Joseph’s Hospital. The sale of the 5.09 acres of land remains subject to planning permission for the development of the 100 bed Community Nursing Unit, but I believe the site provides the best option following the appraisal of a number of sites in the Ennis environs by the HSE. “The new state-of-the-art St Joseph’s Hospital building has been prioritised in the HSE Capital …

THE failures of University Hospital Limerick, which recently broke Irish records for patients waiting on trolleys; was the background to a behind closed doors meeting between UL Hospitals representatives CEO Colette Cowan, Chief Clinical Director Paul Burke and Clare County Council on Monday. Councillor Tom McNamara was one of those who attended but he didn’t accept all that he was told. “They outlined the reason for the overcrowding, they said there was an MRI scanner down and they need a second one. They said that 25 beds extra were opened up when the 17 closed, which we found hard to believe. You know in your heart and soul if 25 beds were going up in Limerick Regional Hospital, there’d be a big fanfare. From what we can gather from below, there weren’t 25 beds open. How come if there were 25 beds opened, when the 17 closed, the numbers on trolleys jumped up to 81?” A few years ago the …

TEN years ago this month, 24- hour emergency department services in Ennis closed and services in the region were reconfigured, despite dire warnings that the HSE’s new plan would not work and could, in fact, prove disastrous. When one looks back at the reports from that time, it is very striking how prescient the people who made the objections were but even they surely could not have believed that things would be so bad so long later. On Monday, Clare County Council passed a motion of no confidence in Minister Simon Harris, after 81 people were left on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) last Wednesday. In The Clare Champion of April 3, 2009, Clare TD Pat Breen opposed the new acute model and, at the time, he felt far more moderate figures were also terrible. “Patients have been left on trolleys for extended periods. There were 17 people on trolleys in Limerick on Tuesday and 28 people on Monday,” …

Two boys, both aged 15, who were swimming at a quarry in Ennis have died at University Hospital Limerick. It is understood that the two teenagers got into difficulty at a disused quarry near Knockanean in the town today [Thursday]. Both boys were recovered by the Coastguard helicopter shortly after 3.30pm, after gardai were notified that people were in difficulty in the water, at Knockanean quarry lake and assistance was required. They were airlifted to University Hospital Limerick but this evening news has emerged that both have been pronounced deceased. Both are believed to be from Ennis. Their names will not be released until family members have been notified. It is understood that the teenagers were due to sit their junior certificate examinations on Wednesday.

Gardaí have confirmed that the Coastguard helicopter has recovered two teenagers who got into difficulty swimming in the quarry at Roslevan. The condition of the two boys is not yet known but they have both been taken to University Hospital Limerick. The incident occurred at approximately 4pm today. The Coastguard helicopter was deployed to deal with the situation and the two teenagers were retrieved from the water.  

Patients from North Clare and South Galway who had scheduled orthopaedic surgery at Merlin Park Hospital, Galway, are facing longer waiting times, as a result of a leak on the roof of a building accommodating two theatres. Hospital management has admitted it will not be possible to restore orthopaedic theatre surgery for a number of weeks. Up to 80 patients, who were scheduled for surgery, have been rescheduled to a later date. More patients will be contacted with cancellations over the coming weeks, until the service is re-established. Staff from theatres and the wards have been reassigned to Merlin Park and UHG into existing vacancies, which have to be filled in the short term. Describing the cancellations as “unfortunate”at a HSE West Forum West meeting on Tuesday, forum chairperson Councillor Mary Hoade said about 70 surgeries were carried out in Merlin Park, while there are more than 800 inpatients on the day case waiting list, with 56 reaching the 15-month …

A NEW research paper published by the Irish Medical Journal, which was co-written by a South East Clare obstetrician, has revealed pregnant women living outside of Dublin only have a 38% chance of being offered an anomaly scan in the public system. Parteen native Dr Karen McNamara is a specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology and a clinical research fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University College Cork. She was involved in compiling the recently-published research, Maternity Ultrasound in the Republic of Ireland 2016; A Review. Dr McNamara noted the number of women being offered an anomaly scan outside of Dublin stands at 38%, a number that has remained largely unchanged despite it being highlighted in previous pieces of research in 2007, 2012 and 2013. She said the review she conducted with Dr Deirdre Hayes Ryan, Dr Noirin Russell, Professor Louise Kenny and Dr Keelin O’Donoghue, showed an inequity in the service that pregnant women are receiving; most notably, that 100% of public patients are being offered the anomaly scan if they attend maternity services in Dublin but only 38% are offered it elsewhere in the country. …