A FUNDING package of €1.4million to open the Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) at St John’s Hospital in the city full time across weekends and create ten new roles, including for a consultant, has been announced.
Following the announcement made earlier today by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, the MAU will be open seven days a week, adding 2,024 new MAU slots to St John’s Hospital per year and giving GPs better access to hospital medical care and assessment for patients.
The move aims to relieve some of the pressure on the overcrowded Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick.
Ten new roles will be created including one consultant doctor, two medical registrars, three nursing staff, one senior physiotherapist, one radiographer, one porter, and one clerical officer.
The funding has been secured from the Department of Health and was announced today (Friday) by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly on a visit to medical campuses across the Mid West.
The Minister was also at Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, where he officially opened flagship new theatres, wards, and clinical areas.
Among the developments Minister Donnelly toured on his visit to the hospital were the state-of-the-art Maigue Unit, which contains 24 single-room ensuite patient rooms of the St Anne’s Ward and a €15m four-theatre operating suite with its new Sterile Services Department, reception, recovery areas, and ancillary support spaces.
The Minister was also in Ennis to officially open the €2m Injury Unit at Ennis Hospital, one of the Mid West’s principal centres for treatment of minor injuries.
