Hospital Medicine

The unacceptably low numbers of urologists in Ireland has resulted in a serious problem in the training of junior doctors, a consultant urologist and Medical Council member has told Irish Medical Times.

One of the three Dublin maternity hospitals will soon find out if it is joining the new National Paediatric Hospital on the Mater Hospital site in Dublin, with recommendations from the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) ongoing review into maternity services expected to recommend a tri-location plan in Autumn.

Three cystic fibrosis patients spent three days in the emergency department at St Vincent’s Hospital during a June outbreak of the winter vomiting bug, the chief executive of the Cystic Fibrosis Association (CFA) told Irish Medical Times.

Junior doctors are happy with the relationship between themselves and non-medics in hospitals and are also positive about the overall atmosphere in the institution where they work.

Junior doctors’ representatives are looking for exemptions for pregnant NCHDs so they do not have to do on-call work from the 24th week of their pregnancy and do not have more than 10 hours a day from their 28th week on.

The only people in Ireland who support the Mater Hospital site for the national children’s hospital are people with vested interests in the Mater, a Crumlin Hospital anaesthetist has told Irish Medical Times.

Senior House Officers and interns at Sligo General Hospital are not to be involved in giving information to relatives about a patient’s medical condition.

The decision by the Board of Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, to allow the development of a private hospital on-site has been heavily criticised by opponents of the Government’s co-location plan, including deputy leader of the Labour party Liz McManus.

Prof Walter Prendiville has been appointed director of Ireland’s first National Clinical Skills Centre (NCSC), based at the Coombe Women’s Hospital.

A review of the hospital-acquired infection, Clostridium Difficile Toxin (CDT) in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick has found that Ireland’s incidence of the infection remains high, and that the use of multiple antibiotics needs to be avoided to reduce CDT in hospitals.