Portiuncula Hospital

Portiuncula Hospital
Health Service Executive
Geography
Location Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland
Organisation
Hospital type General
Services
Emergency department Yes
Beds 220
History
Founded 1943

Portiuncula Hospital is a public hospital located in Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland.[1] It is managed by the Irish Government's Health Service Executive and provides in-patient and out-patient orthopaedic services for the population of East Galway, Roscommon, the Midlands and the Mid-West. In 2008, the hospital served 39,462 out-patients, and 11,387 in-patients, with an average stay of 4.4 nights. In 2008, 65.0% of all admissions were via the emergency department. The hospital saw 6,398 day cases and 2,168 live births in the same year.[1]

History

The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood opened a nursing home at "Mount Pleasant" in 1943, and John Dignan, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clonfert, invited them to found a hospital, which opened on 9 April 1945.[2] The nuns named their hospital after Portiuncula in Italy, the place where Franciscanism began.

Services

The hospital provides 195 in-patient beds and 25 day case beds. In-patient services include general medicine, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, oncology, general surgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, anaesthesia, and radiology.[1]

Waiting times

As of April 2015,[3] the National Treatment Purchase Fund listed the following waiting times for procedures:

  • patients waiting 3–6 months: 1372
  • patients waiting 6–12 months: 636
  • patients waiting over 12 months: 1219

Hygiene

Independent audits rated hygiene levels as 80% satisfactory in 2005,[4] rising to 82% in 2006.[5] Hospital-acquired infection affected 3.8% of patients in 2007, with a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection rate of 0.06 per 1,000 bed days in 2007.[1]

In July 2014 a number of serious hygiene issues were raised during an unscheduled inspection of the hospital by Health Information and Quality Authority. These issues concerned the management of blood monitoring equipment at the hospital, and inspectors found blood-stained sticky tape on a window sill beside a patient’s bed, as well as failure to dispose of used blood sampling equipment. Inspectors also found the fixtures of the hospital to be in a state of disrepair. The report recommended a “more robust system of managing and maintaining such equipment is put in place to mitigate the risks to patients and staff of acquiring a healthcare association infection”[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-02-11. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  2. ↑ "Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe - History and Reputation". Hospitals. HSE. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  3. ↑ Outpatient National by Group/Hospital as at 30/04/2015 (PDF) (Report). National Treatment Purchase Fund. April 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Report on a National Acute Hospitals Hygiene Audit undertaken on behalf of the National Hospitals Office, Health Service Executive" (PDF). Health Service Executive. October 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  5. ↑ "Report on the Second National Acute Hospitals Hygiene Audit" (PDF). Health Service Executive. June 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  6. ↑ Duncal, Pamela (July 2014). "Inspectors find dust, faulty lights and equipment in Portiuncula". The Irish Times. Dublin. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

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