Search Results for 'Cllr Padraig Conneely'

HSE West ambulance crews are still a long way off meeting the response time of eight minutes to life-threatening emergency calls. In the first five months of 2013 only 28 per cent of emergency calls were responded to within the eight minute time frame as set out by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) in 2011.

The HSE West has assured the 3,500 mothers-to-be who attend University Hospital Galway that key safety measures have been implemented following the tragic death of 31-year-old Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar at the hospital following a miscarriage in late October.

The HSE West stressed this week that the reorganisation of public hospitals into hospital groups will result in greater efficiency, accountability and improved outcomes for patients. The groups come as a transition to independent hospital trusts.

A former vice-chairperson of the HSE West’s regional health forum insisted this week that there is “an absolute necessity” to hold an independent inquiry into the death of Savita Halappanavar, the 31-year-old dentist who died at UHG following a miscarriage last month.

Officials of HSE West have moved to assure the public that a single case of TB identified in a 16-year-old secondary school student in Galway should not carry a high risk of contagion and that screening was being carried out on any potential risk parties.

A relaxation of the smoking ban in the grounds of Merlin Park Hospital in Galway has been agreed by members of HSE West following a call by chairman, Fine Gael Councillor Padraic Conneely, for more flexibility on the issue. At its May meeting this week councillors agreed that a designated area should be set aside for smokers, in place of the current protocol that obliges people to walk up to half a mile to a blue line at the hospital entrance.

Attempts to address inefficiencies in hospital waiting lists are to be addressed, it emerged at the April meeting of the Health Forum West last week in Merlin Park in Galway when it was revealed that in excess of 40,000 people are currently on the outpatient waiting list for treatment in Galway hospitals with a high proportion of those awaiting orthopaedic care.

A total of 316 workers were on sick leave from University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park Hospital during January and February.

The number of patients on trolleys at University Hospital Galway’s emergency department rocketed by almost 60 per cent last year.

Keeping St Francis’ public nursing home open may be one of the keys to alleviating the overcrowding crisis at UHG’s emergency department, says a nursing union official.