MORE than 130 children have had surgery at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) under a new model of care that improves access for children and families and brings surgical care as close to home as possible.
Professor Tara Connelly, consultant general surgeon with a special interest in paediatric surgery, updated attendees at the annual Sylvester O’Halloran Perioperative Symposium on the development of UHL as a regional paediatric surgical centre under the new HSE model of care launched in September 2024.
In addition to Professor Connelly’s appointment, UHL also became the first centre in Ireland to welcome a visiting consultant paediatric surgeon from Children’s Health Ireland, Ms Nicola Brindley, who started running theatre lists and CHI’s UHL Outreach Surgery Clinic in Limerick last year.
While UHL has for many years provided acute surgical care for children – as well as subspecialties including ENT, orthopaedics, dental and maxillofacial surgery – the majority of children who need general surgery have until recently had to travel outside of the region for their procedures.
Prof Connelly, Ms Brindley, and their team have led the expansion of paediatric surgery in Limerick by setting up the first regional paediatric surgical facility in the country under the new model of care.
For the first time, the majority of children who need common elective surgeries including hernia repair, endoscopy, skin lesions, and undescended testis fixation, can now have their procedures in the Mid West.
Prof Connelly is also running paediatric endoscopy lists as well as outpatient clinics in UHL and in Ennis Hospital, with over 500 OPD attendances across the region to date.
Delivering the annual Thomas Myles lecture at the conference, Prof Connelly said: “Since I took up post in late 2023, we have made key appointments in surgery and anaesthetics at consultant and SpR level and we have welcomed our first students to train in general paediatric surgery.”
“The early development of these services has been made possible by working closely with colleagues in Children’s Health Ireland and the HSE to build up regional services as part of a national network for paediatric healthcare.
“Most importantly for our young patients and their families, it means they have access to surgical care as close to home as possible. This is already making a huge difference to families who until now have faced the long journey to Dublin for their procedures, resulting in schooldays missed for patients and their siblings and additional costs for parents through missing work and on travel,” Prof Connelly said.
Prof Connelly added she had every expectation the volume of general paediatric surgery at UHL would continue to grow as the national model of care was implemented, supported through the appointment of more consultants and specialist nursing staff as well as designated theatre time and paediatric day surgery beds over time.
