(July 28th 2021) Tallaght University Hospital with its mission of People Caring for People to Live Better Lives today published its 2020 Annual Report. The report outlines what was achieved by the staff, management and board of the Hospital in a year of significant and unprecedented pressure on the Hospital.
Despite the challenges the Hospital maintained and delivered on the Hospital’s strategy with tremendous progress made on implementation across six priority strategy areas. With a clear focus on future development the Hospital has announced plans to recruit an additional 300 staff including Nursing, Medical, Health & Social Care Professionals and Administrative staff. The plan is to recruit the additional staff over the next 12-18 months to support expansion and enhancement of services across the Hospital.
Commenting on the publication of the report and jobs announcement Chief Executive Lucy Nugent said: “Despite COVID-19 there was incredible progress made during the year with the completion of several capital projects. The challenges that COVID presented also meant we accelerated our digital enabled care programme with technology used to aid communication, diagnosis and treatment. I could not be more proud of my colleagues across the TUH Campus ensuring services were adapted, maintained and restarted as soon as it was safe to do so.
2021 has already presented a new set of challenges but I am confident that the indomitable TUH team spirit will continue to shine through and I look forward to welcoming new members to the team as we continue to grow and expand our services.”
Liam Dowdall, Chairman of the TUH Board commented “I hope our country, health service and hospital never again have to face a year like 2020, I am confident that the team at TUH will take the lessons learned and build on the incredible progress achieved in the last year. Given the year that our staff have had and the demands on their time I think what they have achieved is incredible and a testament to the drive the team have to deliver improved patient care and enhance the health and wellbeing of our population.”
2020 Activity Highlights
- Reeves Day Surgery Centre comprising of four theatres and 25 days beds opened on time and on budget and will focus on reducing the length of time patients wait for day case procedures
- In partnership with the HSE a Primary Care Radiology Unit opened in the Russell Centre, Tallaght Cross West. Staffed by members of the Hospital Radiology team, a significant number of diagnostic examinations are now performed outside of the Hospital, freeing up hospital radiology capacity for inpatients
- An Endoscopy Surveillance Waiting List initiative balances clinical need and service demand resulting in a more efficient and streamlined service
- The Vartry Renal Unit opened on time and on budget. The 2,700m2 Unit built over two floors has 28 Haemodialysis Treatment Bays, six single haemodialysis rooms for immunocompromised / acutely ill patients, four home dialysis training rooms and for the first time in Ireland, four self-care haemodialysis bays
- One in six people will have a stroke at some point in their lives. Time is of the essence in diagnosis and treatment this health event in a person’s life. Through the use of artificial intelligence software the Brainomix app provides the stroke doctor on-call with a notification on their phone of a stroke scan being performed. The scan can be viewed by the doctor three to five minutes after the scan is complete. The app provides excellent views of the imaging on their phone. The implementation of the Brainomix software helps the stroke pathway to move faster, the quick transmission of easily interpretable data speeds up treatment decisions.
- Through the support of the TUH Foundation robotic surgery arrived at the Hospital offering surgeons the opportunity to provide an alternative option to open surgery and perform complex minimally invasive surgical procedures
- As a centre of excellence in dementia care and cognitive research the Hospital in partnership with the HSE Dementia Office introduced new national Intellectual Disability Memory Clinic. By 65 years of age 80% of people with Down Syndrome will develop dementia with the average onset at 51 years of age. This clinic provides diagnostic, post-diagnostic support and promotes prevention strategies and brain health.
- 14,490 virtual visits for patients were arranged via hospital devices, 13,700 care packages were delivered to patients on wards and over 1,200 books in a bag were provided to patients to help pass the time during their stay in hospital.
- The Laboratory Medicine Department undertook the first Irish study on the prevalence of SARDS-CoV2 amongst healthcare workers. Almost 1,200 staff volunteered for the study representing areas across the entire campus representing one third of staff working in TUH. Antibodies to SARS-C0V-2 were detected in 18% of participants overall.
About Tallaght University Hospital
TUH is one of Ireland’s largest acute teaching hospitals, adult, psychiatric and age-related healthcare on one site. The Hospital has 495 adult beds with over 3,000 people on staff. The Hospital is a provider of local, regional and national specialties. It is also a national urology centre, the second largest provider of dialysis services in the country, a regional orthopaedic trauma centre and a designated trauma unit. The Hospital also has 67 paediatric beds under the governance of Children’s Health Ireland and 52 mental health beds under HSE governance.
TUH is one of the two main academic teaching hospitals of Trinity College Dublin - specialising in the training and professional development of staff in areas such as medicine nursing, health and social care professionals, emergency medicine and surgery, amongst many others. TUH is part of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group which serves a population of over 1.2 million across seven counties.
