There were 17,886 inpatient admissions, to Tallaght University Hospital in 2019, with patients coming from every county in Ireland, according to the hospital’s annual report. Patients coming from other counties mainly attended for tertiary care.
The hospital had 43,994 day case admissions and 251,455 outpatient visits. The number of Adult ED attendances at 52,398 continued to increase (up 3% on 2018 figures).
Just over 1,000 patients were treated in the hospital every 24 hours.
Year on year, the inpatient waiting list was down by 3% and the daycase waiting lists was down 14%. TUH CEO, Lucy Nugent said the reduction was a result of a combination of targeted insourcing and outsourcing initiatives.
She said the hospital remained focussed on delivering on its strategy, with the overarching objective to improve access to the services. Two large projects were set to be completed this year – the opening of the new Renal Unit, called the Vartry Renal Unit. (Vartry is a reservoir in Co. Wicklow and reflects the importance of water in the haemodialysis service) and the new day surgery centre called the Reeves Day Surgery Centre at Tallaght Cross West. (The name was chosen for two reasons the majority of the beds in the Alice Reeves Day Ward in TUH will transfer over to the new Centre and as it is the International Year of the Nurse & Midwife it is a homage to Alice Reeves – a founding member of An Board Altranais- after whom the ward is named.
TUH has also taken delivery of a surgical robotic programme known as da Vinci Surgical System which, the hospital says brings TUH in line with leading hospitals internationally. Christened ‘Leona’, its arrival is the result of a €2m investment by Tallaght University Hospital Foundation (TUHF). Initially Leona will be used for the busy Urology service at TUH, with Colorectal Surgery and Gynaecology also using the new robotic system.
