High dependency unit closes its doors for good

The recent temporary unexpected closure of the High dependency unit (HDU) at Ennis Hospital is now being made permanent, the Mid-West HSE has confirmed.

Sick leave affecting a number of hospital staff with specialist skills required for the HDU in Ennis resulted in a temporary closure in the lead-up to Christmas, when the number of referrals was very small.

There were plans to reopen it early in the new year. However, this subsequently changed when it emerged there was a demand for general medical beds instead of a HDU.

It included three beds for HDU and three for coronary care and was used to manage the sickest patients in the hospital.

In a statement issued to The Clare Champion, the HSE confirmed that any patient from Clare who requires high-dependency care will receive this at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

The health authority stated the HDU in Dooradoyle has the necessary staffing, equipment, clinical governance and the back-up of an intensive care unit. Significantly, it also has the volumes necessary to maintain staff skills and expertise, as required by HIQA.

“However, once the patient is stabilised and medically fit, they will be cared for in the most suitable hospital across the region. This will usually, but not always, be Ennis for a Clare patient.

“HSE experience to date is that patients recovering following treatment in HDU and who are faced with a short stay in recovery are happy with the current arrangements. Medical opinion is that the arrangements are contributing to safer patient care,” said a HSE spokesman.

The latest closure of an acute service in Ennis was also copper-fastened by the provision of a new state-of-the art critical care unit in Limerick.

Outgoing Ennis Hospital manager, Frank Keane, insists Clare people should not worry about the closure of the HDU, as the whole model of acute care in this area has completed changed.

For the actual small number of patients that are involved, he believes the sickest patients in the Mid-West need to be in the new critical care block.

He explains there is always a danger in a small acute hospital that the HDU will start accommodating patients it isn’t designed for and this in turn leads to safety concerns.

“Now that HDU in Ennis has closed, it is now very black and white.

“If a patient requires HDU-type monitoring, they have to be put in an ambulance and transferred to Limerick.

“The new critical care block is a proper hospital. The new 50 bed in-patient unit in Ennis is what a proper hospital should look like. We are trying to provide a 21st century service in an early 20th century infrastructure.

“While the service delivery and models of care have all evolved, it makes it more difficult when you don’t have the proper infrastructure,” he said.

“There would be occasions when Ennis would be getting anaesthetic back-up from Limerick. I prefer to have the patient where the anaesthetist is rather than where he isn’t,” he added.