Creating the hospital of tomorrow

If you’ve ever wondered what the hospital of the future will look like, Bon Secours Health System’s new development in Limerick is offering a front-row seat.

Ireland’s largest private hospital group is developing a new €190 million hospital at a green field site in Ballysimon, just off the M7 motorway.

For the group, which employs more than 4,000 staff and has over 500 consultants, it’s an opportunity to build a state-of-the-art hospital and is a key part of its 2025 strategic plan.

Bon Secours Health System cares for more than 400,000 patients a year, across its modern acute hospitals in Cork, Galway, Tralee, Dublin and its current Limerick hospital at Barringtons, which it incorporated in 2017. It also operates a Care Village in Cork.

Sustainability: A whole new set of reporting with potential to be transformative

---

Tools and applications, in common use elsewhere in life, are still not standard in healthcare settings

---

Futureproofing the health system requires a new prescription

---

Twenty years a-growing – Ireland’s most important health summit goes from strength to strength

---

The site restrictions at Barringtons meant that Bon Secours had to pursue the most substantial healthcare investment in the midwest in decades.

Due to open in 2025, the new Bon Secours Hospital Limerick will transform surgical treatment in the area, expanding on the current services offered and adding cardiology and medicine. It will also feature a medical assessment unit and expanded diagnostic imaging service.

Significant investment has been made in the design of patient rooms to ensure patients recover in a restful setting. This is one of the design features that Sarah O’Sullivan, chief executive of Bon Secours Hospital Limerick, will be discussing at the Future Health Summit 2024.

New opportunities

The need for a new hospital in the midwest was clear. “Barrington’s Hospital was built in 1829. It’s a quarter acre site and over the last 20 years we have maximised its space. We are providing a range of services within those limitations,” explains O’Sullivan. “As we prepare to move to our new hospital, we have recently engaged Bannon, commercial property consultants, to sell Barringtons Hospital.”

Moving to a new, seven-acre site is an opportunity to build a future-proofed modern hospital from the ground up. Sustainability is a key theme in its development, including the use of heat pump technology, rainwater harvesting and charging facilities for electric cars.

The new hospital is also designed to maximise a sense of space, from the generous proportions of its 99 in-patient rooms to the landscaped greens outside, including a dedicated healing garden.

“We carefully considered the patient journey through the hospital. We want patients to walk into a bright and welcoming space that is easy to navigate, thanks to the use of colour coded patient portals,” she explains.

Smart thinking

Hospitals learned a great deal from the recent pandemic and this has fed into the design. Outpatients will be seen in the adjacent clinical services hub, to reduce footfall through the main hospital building.

A roof garden will allow in-patients to walk outdoors, within the confines of the hospital in a safe environment.

Even the positioning of various departments was subject to detailed design thinking. For example, ophthalmology, whose patients come for cataracts, laser surgery and eye injections, will be at the front door, to ensure those with visual impairment have the shortest journey through the hospital.

Supporting staff

Floor-to-ceiling windows focused on green spaces create a calming environment not just for patients, but for staff too, who will have their own entrance, changing areas with shower facilities and numerous rest areas, she points out. “The wellbeing of our people is a huge focus for us and as we grow to support the needs of this new hospital, creating 250 new jobs, we need to continue to attract exceptional people to deliver exceptional care.

Electronic health record

As chief strategy officer at Bon Secours Health System, Lynn Guthrie is actively ensuring that the group is at the forefront of best practice. Digital transformation has an increasingly important role to play in that.

One of the largest projects being undertaken is the introduction of an electronic healthcare record (EHR). Bon Secours Health System is working with specialist software company Meditech and healthcare consultancy Nordic to deliver BonsConnect.

This organisational transformation project involves all five hospitals transitioning away from paper-based records to one digital system. “There are over 80 clinical and IT experts, from five locations, working together on this project. We are very lucky to have such an incredible and collaborative team.”

“The patient is at the centre of everything we do. This system will enable patient information to be available to multiple stakeholders at the same time, improving how we deliver care,” she explains.

Once operational it will boost efficiencies, streamline the delivery of care, speed up the exchange of information, and improve the patient experience. In time, patients will be able to access a patient portal and health information will be shareable across the wider healthcare network, including the public system.

“It’s an exciting time for our health system as we pave the way for the future of healthcare delivery. The developments we are making now will have lasting benefits for patients for years to come.”

Future Health Summit 2024 takes place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre, Golden Lane, Dublin 8 on Wednesday, May 29th and Thursday, May 30th. To book seats and view the full list of speakers and exhibitors visit futurehealthsummit.com