(January 17th 2023) Tallaght University Hospital is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Sandra McCarthy as the Director of Nursing & Integrated Care (interim). Sandra joins TUH from Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise where she was the Director of Nursing.
Sandra is a Registered General Nurse & Registered Nurse Tutor with extensive clinical, educational and managerial experience. She completed her Nurse Training in the Meath Hospital, Dublin and transferred to TUH upon its opening in 1998. During her time in TUH she was a member of the Senior Nursing Executive team and Senior Human Resources Management team as Head of Learning & Development. Her professional portfolio includes an Honours Degree in Nursing from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc in Nursing and a postgraduate qualification in Health Care Education from UCD, Diploma in Leadership from UCD Smurfit Business School and a Diploma in Quality from Royal College of Physicians. Sandra is an experienced health care provider with in-depth knowledge of operations management, administrative management and financial management. She has 28 years’ experience of effectively delivering in the health arena, including direct and indirect patient care, graduate and postgraduate education.
Commenting on her appointment Ms. Lucy Nugent, Chief Executive of TUH said “I am delighted to welcome Sandra back to TUH in the interim role of Director or Nursing & Integrated Care. She joins the organisation in an important year as we mark our 25th anniversary of the Hospital opening, the introduction of the Regional Health Authorities and implementation of the Enhanced Community Care Programme all of which will bring opportunities to our colleagues to collaborate, coordinate and support integrated care delivery to the benefit of our patients and their families. Her role is pivotal to the organisation as we develop, not only in the diverse roles across the patient healthcare journey, but also in the ongoing development of our staff and environment.”
Sandra McCarthy, Director of Nursing & Integrated Care (interim) said on her appointment, “I am delighted to return to the TUH team at a time of so much change. The Hospital has always valued nursing at all levels and nurtured nursing leadership from the bedside through to specialist and advanced practice and in nursing management of all grades. With such ambitious plans for both the Hospital and healthcare system I am looking forward to working with my nursing colleagues and management in implementing continuous improvement and innovation at all levels, empowering the nursing team to deliver evidence based care and maximise patient outcomes.”
Editors Notes
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 nursing, health & 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 1.2M across seven counties.
The Hospital has 467 inpatient adult beds, 74 onsite day beds for our Dialysis, Oncology, Infusion, Haematology, Cardiology, Endoscopy, Bone & Joint and minor surgery services. The Hospital also has a Day Surgery Centre located near the Hospital which has four theatres and 25 day beds for elective surgery. There are an additional 40 offsite beds under TUH governance. The Hospital is staffed by over 3,200 people with 63 different nationalities represented on the team.
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 and is a designated trauma unit.
The Hospital is a public, voluntary teaching hospital funded by the Health Service Executive, It opened on June 21st 1998 bringing together over 600 years of medical and nursing care and education from the Adelaide, Meath & National Children’s Hospitals.
As a model 4 hospital we are cognisant of our role as a provider of national and tertiary services but also of our role in the local community. We are working to a vision of people caring for people to live better lives. The Hospital strategy reflects a continuation of that effort with our patients, their families/carers and health partners to achieve a fully integrated care approach to every service we provide.
The Hospital has a series of planned capital developments to address significant capacity shortages, enhance the infrastructure and environment for patients, their families, the public and staff. A key aim is to improve access to our services. The strategy includes a combination of care pathway redesign, digital enablement and capacity investment actions aimed specifically to improve wait times. This strategic approach will consolidate the Hospital’s position as a leader in integrated care. Given our unique position with a vibrant community and the growing Tallaght health quarter we will strive to fulfil the potential truly to be a hospital without walls.
