Tag Archives: HSE West Forum

SOURCING staff during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic became a real challenge, according to Mid-West Community Healthcare chief officer, Maria Bridgeman. In a wide-ranging presentation via Zoom for members of the HSE West Forum earlier this week, Ms Bridgeman outlined the huge volume of work undertaken by the HSE and partner agencies to combat the spread of the virus once the first case was confirmed on March 4. “We had to start from scratch and identify areas that would be suitable for isolation units. The turnaround for these were required quite quickly. These units had to be kitted out in line with infection control guidelines. “One significant piece of work was setting up the community testing and swabbing teams. This involved a lot of significant work, which was resource dependent,” she said. It involved a lot of staff setting up a new information technology system called swift queue. We had to get staff to upload all the names of …

Children whose parents cannot afford to pay for private dental treatment are waiting up to three years to see an orthodontist, a Galway councillor has claimed. The “gaping” lack of orthodontic treatment available for children in the county was raised by Councillor Catherine Connolly at a recent HSE West Forum meeting. Councillor Connolly made her comments after tabling a question about orthodontic treatment for children in the county, what service is currently available, the nature and duration of all waiting lists and the criteria used for these lists. Saolta University Health Care Group chief operating officer, Tony Canavan, revealed the waiting time for treatment currently stands at three years, while the waiting time for assessment is three to four months. However, Mr Canavan noted a small number of cases are on a priority waiting list due to the severity of the case, or if the child’s treatment is dependent on growth. This list has a 20-month wait time he stated. He explained …