*Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly meets Jo Crowe who is leading the team of nurse practitioners at the local injury unit. Photograph: Brian Arthur
ENNIS’ €2m local injury unit was officially opened by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly (FF) on Thursday.
Located at Ennis Hospital, the local injury unit is one of the Mid-West’s principal centres for treatment of minor injuries.
In 2023 up to June 14th, there has been a total of 5,831 attendances at Ennis Hospital Injury Unit, and in 2022 there were a record 11,854 (+25%) new attendances at the facility, where patients can access treatment for minor injuries without a GP referral, seven days a week, including Bank Holidays.
Three nurse practitioners are located at the injury unit with the team led by Sixmilebridge native, Jo Crowe.
Addressing the launch, Minister Donnelly spoke of his love for Co Clare with younger days “misspent” in the county and detailed his plans to enjoy the music at Willie Clancy Week in Miltown Malbay where his children would be playing. “You get a feel for a place in my gig, you get a feel when hospitals are going well and there’s a fierce passion from people running the hospital, it’s as clear as day that Ennis Hospital is as good as that,” he said.
Staff were told by the Health Minister that it was clear they were doing “a fantastic job”. He added, “You live in a world where it’s the negative things that end up being discussed publicly in the Oireachtas and the media, the good news rarely gets an equal footing but there is a lot of good news thanks to the work you do”.
Investment in Ennis Hospital will continue, Minister Donnelly pledged. “This Government has been investing in this hospital and will continue to, there is 45 more staff here than when COVID arrived, we have sanctioned an extra 20 more staff to run the diagnostics”. He said the Government was determined to grow the workforce and services in Ennis.
“We’ve a simple goal which is universal health care, when anybody needs care they can get it. Can I afford, does the service I need exist and can I get it is the three challenges of universal health care,” he added. Access remains the biggest challenge in the region, the Minister maintained, “there’s the waiting lists and the trolleys, the more we expand on LIU the more pressure we take off Limerick and patients, the patient turnaround times here are phenomenal”.
Operations Director of Nursing, Joe Cassidy referenced the mosaic tiles which had 1940 emblazoned on them in different sections throughout the hospital as a nod to the year in which Ennis Hospital was built. Five single rooms compliant with infection prevention control are equipped in the local injury unit, he explained, “this benefits staff but most importantly patients and their families”.
Ennis is one of the top performing units, Cassidy maintained. Patient experience times (PET) have an average of one and a half hours in Ennis which is comfortably below the national average.
Dr Terry Hennessy, Clinical Lead for Model 2 Hospitals, UL Hospitals Group welcomed the continued “undoubted strong commitment” to the development of the site in Ennis while referencing the €5.2m commitment towards the medical assessment unit which is “one of the busiest in the country” with over 7,000 attendances thus far in 2023. He was adamant Ennis could become a “comprehensive one stop shop for patients” and said the combined activity of the MAU and LIU brought close to 22,000 attendances in Ennis last year which “exceeds 2008 activity”.
A former consultant cardiologist at Ennis Hospital, Dr Hennessy stated, “Whilst not a Clareman, I am here for 25 years and have strong interest in development of this site, all staff here are passionate and work hard to develop services in this hospital. The ongoing support for all these initiatives allow all our dedicated staff to provide excellent health care for people of the Mid-West”.
CEO of UL Hospitals Group, Colette Cowan noted the pride held by the people of Clare in Ennis Hospital. The patient centred approach in Ennis has been recognised nationally, she said. The planned €10m upgrade of the theatres in Ennis will “secure the future for Ennis and daycare surgeries,” Ms Cowan commented. She concluded that it was “essential” Ennis Hospital is part of the national expansion of bed stock.
