The efforts of staff at UL Hospitals Group has been recognised at this year’s Irish Healthcare Centre Awards.
UHL received the award for best Healthcare Department Initiative in Emergency Care for the Development and Implementation of an ED Nursing Proforma for Post Triage Assessment of Adult Patients.
And UL Hospitals Group won the award for Healthcare Department Initiative in a Large/Teaching Hospital for the Implementation of a Robotic-Assisted Surgery Program.
The award for the Initiative in Emergency Care arises from research conducted by Sarah Watkins, an ED nurse at UHL and PhD candidate at the University of Limerick, on the journey of older patients in the ED and the contribution of nurses in acute services. The ongoing project has seen the introduction of more evidence-based and standardised nursing documentation in the ED, promoting more comprehensive patient assessment and safety.
In 2016, UHL became the first hospital in Ireland to perform colorectal, renal and adrenal surgical procedures using the state of the art Da Vinci Xi Dual Console robot. Further subspecialties and surgeons will be joining the robotic program as the year progresses. The first ever live stream of robotic surgery in Ireland was carried out at UHL in November 2016 and earlier this month, UHL hosted the inaugural Irish training course on robotic surgery.
In addition to the winners, a number of other clinical teams and projects at UL Hospitals were shortlisted in this year’s awards.
The nominees were as follows:
Clinical Team of the Year: Clinic/Small Department – Dermatology Department UL Hospitals
Healthcare Department Initiative: Maternity Care – University Maternity Hospital Limerick: ‘Actively Seeking Women’s Views and Involving the Service User in the Planning and Design of Services’
Maternity Hospital/Unit of the Year: University Maternity Hospital Limerick
Healthcare Building Project of the Year: UHL Renal Dialysis and Ambulatory Care Centre
Commenting on the success of the awards night, Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group said:
“We were delighted to get so many nominations and doubly so to see two of our teams get this well-deserved national recognition.
“At a time when it has become fashionable to say the health service has run out of ideas, it is great to see two initiatives that have grown out of the MidWest – and which are already delivering for our patients – recognised at a national level,” said Ms Cowan.
