A round-up of today's other health stories in brief
Seminar helps deal with stress at work
EMPLOYERS ARE learning how to create wellbeing surveys, which have the potential to identify and deal with workplace stress, at a seminar in Dublin today. Organised by the Health and Safety Authority, the seminar focuses on the Work Positive survey, an online, confidential tool which allows businesses find out the stress levels among staff. The survey can be adapted for individual companies by a team of researchers at the University of Ulster. See managingwellbeing.com
UCHG struggles to cope with trolley numbers
THE NUMBER of patients awaiting a bed at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) reached a record high last week.
According to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), there were 60 patients waiting for an inpatient bed at the hospital on Thursday morning.
Describing conditions as “unbearable for patients and staff”, the INMO also noted that 108 beds at the hospital remained closed, with 207 fewer nurses working there since 2009.
INMO industrial relations officer Regina Durcan said: “It is a terrible indictment of the HSE West that they allow this situation to continue. We are talking about vulnerable human beings and not numbers.
“These people are sick and need hospital care and our members want to be in a position to provide care safely,” Ms Durcan said.
In response to the figures, HSE West issued a statement saying the hospital was seeking to minimise the numbers on trolleys by increasing the number of clinical ward rounds to ensure that patients ready to go home were supported to do so.
It also said the hospital could implement a “full capacity protocol” whereby an average of one to two additional patients are placed on each of the wards until a bed becomes available.
However the INMO said the protocol, which was “not working and only increases risks to patients”, had been rolling for the three days up to Thursday and that the whole hospital was now full.
Yesterday, the number of those on trolleys at the hospital stood at 30.
Elan €1.5m boost for neurological conditions
PATIENTS WITH neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease are set to gain from a €1.5 million funding boost from pharmaceutical giant Elan.
The Dublin Neurological Institute (DNI), based at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, will receive the money over a five-year period and plans to use the funding to increase the range of services it offers to patients with chronic neurological illnesses.
A registered charity, the DNI provides holistic care for patients, with an emphasis on treatments and therapies not available in the private and public health services. These include additional neurology clinics for patients on waiting lists at the Mater hospital as well as a nurse-led infusion day ward. Complementary therapies such as acupuncture are also provided.
“This is a fantastic commitment. We are delighted to have found a partner like Elan, a recognised global leader in neuroscience, who has a great sensitivity to the devastating effects that MS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease can have on patients and families,” said DNI clinical director and consultant neurologist at the Mater hospital, Prof Timothy Lynch.
Through research collaborations with the Mayo Clinic in the US and the University of British Columbia, Canada, the institute has recently contributed to the identification of two new genes that cause Parkinson’s disease. There are more than 700,000 people in Ireland with neurological conditions, while some 44,000 patients receive a diagnosis of neurological disorder every year.