Nenagh Hospital accepting some patients is a 'step in the right direction'

Nenagh Hospital began accepting patients meeting specific criteria this week in a bid to ease urgent overcrowding issues at Emergency Departments.

The Medical Assessment (MAU) pathway for 112/999 patients has been rolled out at Nenagh Hospital since Tuesday of this week, which allows medical patients meeting strict criteria to be transferred by ambulance to the MAU in Nenagh.

The system has been in operation at Ennis Hospital since early January and enables patients to be treated in a local hospital closer to home.  The system aims to reduce patient presentations to Emergency Departments and release ambulances more quickly to respond to other emergency calls. 

A key element is a telephone referral from the treating paramedic to the receiving MAU doctor, which ensures that the right patient is brought to the MAU.

112/999 patients that do not meet these clinical criteria will continue to be transported to Emergency Departments for assessment and treatment. The Medical Assessment Unit in Nenagh Hospital treats patients referred by GPs, ShannonDoc and now NAS paramedics.

It is essential that unwell medical patients do not attend the MAU without a referral from their Doctor or a paramedic.

Tipperary Sinn Féin TD, Martin Browne, told the Tribune on Tuesday the decision is "a step in the right direction". 

"It is a welcome development as it aims to make more use of Nenagh hospital in efforts to reduce the level of demand being placed on the emergency department of University Hospital Limerick," he said.

“What I now want is clarity on what resources and finances will be made available to Nenagh
Hospital to enable this system to work as effectively as possible, and to ensure that staff at Nenagh are assisted in dealing with the additional demand this will result in.

“But more needs to be done to address the crisis facing patients in the Mid-West following from
what 87 consultants recently described as ‘the poorly resourced reconfiguration of hospital services in the region back in 2009’.

“Putting Nenagh, Ennis and St Johns to more use for the people of North Tipperary and the Mid-West is essential.

“This latest announcement, while welcome, is just a step in the right direction, which must be adequately resourced to fully realise its potential", Deputy Browne said.