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Tag Archives: Professor Paul Burke

UHL can cope with second Covid-19 surge

UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick (UHL) will be able to cope with a second wave of Covid-19, according to a senior clinician. Professor Paul Burke, chief academic officer at UL Hospitals’ Group believes Ireland may experience new clusters of the virus like other countries. Speaking at a recent media briefing in the University of Limerick, Professor predicted there will be a “relative surge” of coronavirus. “I think there will be a relative surge. There may be clusters like Seoul in South Korea. We do have a good contact tracing system in place. If we identify things quickly we will be able to curb it. “I think we will have a consistent number of Covid-19 patients in our hospitals on an ongoing basis. The threat will continue to remain. “I would be confident that UHL will cope with another surge. It has been remarkable over the last three months. The first notifiable case was in the Mid-West. We instituted our close down a …

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HSE unveil new €1 million field hospital in UL

UP to 25 patients will be brought to a new Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) in the University of Limerick (UL) Sports Arena in its first week of operation thanks to a unique collaboration between UL and the UL Hospitals’ Group. Constructed at a cost of €1 million, all the equipment for the new field hospital in UL was provided by the HSE and all of its contains including the floor are reusable elsewhere. The ICF is a fully staffed and fully equipped Model One hospital facility that will provide rehabilation care for non-Covid patients who are discharged from acute public hospitals in the region. The 68-bed facility, with capacity to scale up to 84 beds, is fitted out with a typical ward support accommodation such as clean and dirty utilities, pharmacy, pantry, staff change, clinical treatment areas, two recreation areas, and four enclosed rooms. It is expected that up to 50 patients will be treated at peak demand with capacity …

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Plans advanced for UL temporary hospital

  Plans are well underway for the development of a large Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) on the floor of the main gymnasium in the University of Limerick’s Sports Arena. It is expected that this temporary facility will be kitted out to accommodate between 120 and 164 patients, depending on staffing, on the basis of a Health Service Executive template in line with a similar one planned for City West in Dublin. The UL Hospitals’ Group estimates it will cost approximately €560,000 for design and build, including mechanical and electrical works, which does not include equipping and staffing costs. This is a joint initiative between the University of Limerick and UL Hospitals’ Group, who are working together to ensure that work will get underway with a week. Once work gets underway it is envisaged that this new facility will be built in four weeks. The HSE has issued an open invitation for all qualified health professionals to make themselves available as …

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100,000 face visors for HSE frontline staff

A collaboration between University of Limerick and UL Hospitals Group has seen the design and capacity created to manufacture 100,000 face visors for HSE front-line staff. The Rapid Innovation Unit at UL, an SFI Confirm Centre funded 3D printing activity that works in collaboration with University Hospital Limerick, mobilised a team to innovate immediate solutions in response to the COVID 19 crisis. The unit has previous experience in rapid design and 3D printing of medical devices in response to clinical requests. Following a request from Professor Paul Burke, Chief Academic Officer at UL Hospitals Group and Vice Dean of Health Sciences at UL, academics and clinicians at the Rapid Innovation Unit at UL worked to design and manufacture novel solutions where doctors had identified potential shortages of equipment should COVID-19 cases surge. In less than two weeks, the team designed solutions to three critical clinical challenges facing clinicians due to the pandemic. These include capacity to manufacture 100,000 face visors …

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