This article is from page 18 of the 2011-01-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
IT HAS BEEN hailed as the building that will fill the significant gaps in the mid-west’s health system.
Yesterday (Monday) the HSE unveiled a € 10.5 million development of specialist health services at the Mid Western Regional Hospital.
The development is aimed at filling significant gaps in the provision of specialist services including cystic fibrosis, neurology, stroke, dermatology and symptomatic breast disease.
The purpose built six-storey building on the hospital’s Dooradoyle campus represents a united effort from the Mid Western Hospitals Development Trust, the Parkinson’s Association and the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland.
Planning permission for the development was received on December 23, 2010. Construction is due to begin in June 2011 and the various components of the project are expected to be operational by January 2013.
Construction costs are estimated to be € 10.5 million and additional funding is available for equipment.
Louis Creaven, Chairperson of the Mid Western Hospitals Development Trust, said, “Pressure on public finances means that the work of bodies such as the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland and Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland, TLC4CF Mid-West Branch of Cystic Fibrosis Association and the Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust, is today more important than ever in meeting the gaps in the public health service.”
The much needed development will provide for patients from Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, and will include a specialised Cystic Fibrosis Out-patients Unit with five treatment rooms and an in-patient unit with nine en suite rooms.
A Neurological Unit to cater for 11 neurological conditions will also be included to cater for the very young with epilepsy, all ages with Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neuron Disease and the more common condition of stroke.
Complex technical treatments will be provided in a special six-bed unit. Overall the unit will serve some 5,000 patients.
A Dermatology Outpatient Centre will also be added to bring all dermatology services together at one location and to act as a focus for dramatic improvements in services for dermatology patients throughout the region. As many as 6,280 dermatology patients were seen in the Mid West Regional Hospital in 2010.
A Symptomatic Breast Specialist Unit to consolidate services which are at present fragmented in different areas of the hospital will complete the development.
As many as 5, 500 new patients and return patients were seen in 2009 at