The CEO of the HSE Paul Reid is visiting health services in Counties Limerick and Clare today and tomorrow, as part of a series of visits to services around the country.
During his visit, Mr Reid will meet staff involved in a range of initiatives and will hear in particular about how acute and community services are collaborating and integrating to improve health outcomes. An important element of the visit is to acknowledge and thank staff for their work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
At University Hospital Limerick, he will see specific services designed to reduce Emergency Department waiting times and avoid hospital admission for patients who would be better cared for in appropriate services in the community. He will talk to the team promoting early stroke discharge which is leading to better outcomes and less use of acute beds, visit the cancer directorate which is eliminating ED delays for cancer patients, and hear details of initiatives by the hospital’s patient flow team to deal with the ongoing high demand for hospital services.
Other services he will visit include the Community Intervention Team, which is a collaboration between acute and community services to support patients returning home and is based in Dooradoyle, Limerick. He will then progress to St Gabriel’s Children’s Respite House, Mungret, and concludes the Limerick leg of his visit at St Camillus’ Hospital, Shelbourne Road, where a new 75-bed unit will open in 2023. At St Camillus’, the CEO will also meet the Integrated Care for Older Persons team and conclude with a local briefing for TDs, Senators and local members of the HSE Regional Health Forum, West.
On Wednesday, in Clare, Mr Reid will visit specialist services, including the Acute Psychiatric Unit in Ennis, and the Injury Unit and Medical Assessment Unit at Ennis Hospital. While in Ennis, the CEO will also see the new Primary Care Centre, which is nearing completion. Mr Reid will also travel to Scarriff to see the newly-built extension at Raheen Community Nursing Unit. While there, he will also meet some of the team who have provided the healthcare response to the Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis in the Mid West Region.
Mr Reid said: “A key plank of national health policy is to encourage the integration of services provided to patients in our acute hospitals and in the community. Where we really see this in action is at a local level. I am really looking forward to hearing of the great progress being made across services in the mid-west. I will also be expressing my thanks and admiration to staff who not only managed an extraordinary public health crisis under huge pressure over the past two years, but who innovated and changed how they provide services over that time in order to protect the public.”