Sligo acute assessment centre speeds care

A NEW ACUTE assessment unit in Sligo General Hospital is seeing 98 per cent of patients within 15 minutes, according to the Health Service Executive.

Over 70 per cent of patients referred to the new €1.4 million acute assessment unit are either admitted or discharged within four hours.

The unit, the first of its kind in the country, caters for emergency cases referred by GPs. It was officially opened by Tánaiste Mary Coughlan earlier this month but has been in operation since last June.

Dr Donal Murray, consultant physician/cardiologist at the hospital, said the unit was an important development from the perspectives of both patient safety and efficiency.

He said that, without this unit, acute medical and surgical patients who were referred by their GPs could be spread out over multiple wards throughout the hospital and might have to endure considerable delays before being seen by the admitting doctor. This could be hazardous for the patients, he said.

Since the new unit opened last June, more than 1,700 patients have been assessed: 75 per cent medical and 25 per cent surgical.

According to Dr Murray, the Sligo hospital had already led the way in this area, having opened a medical assessment unit 17 years ago.

He said this had been located in temporary accommodation and over the years had operated from different wards throughout the hospital.

The new purpose-built unit was in an ideal location close to the front door of the hospital and near the radiology and emergency departments, Dr Murray said.

The unit was the most appropriate environment for patients to be assessed, stabilised and have treatment initiated, before being either transferred to another ward or discharged, he added.

It operates from Monday to Friday, between 8am to 9.30pm. Any emergency patients referred to the hospital by GPs outside these hours are assessed in the emergency department.