300 jobs boost at Tallaght University Hospital

TALLAGHT University Hospital has announced plans to recruit an additional 300 staff to support the expansion and enhancement of its services on and off campus.

The hospital has published its Annual Report for 2020, which looks back at a significantly challenging year for the local health facility – which included Covid-19 costs of €26 million. This included €1.8m spent on surgical masks, a 953 per cent increase on the €174k spent in this area in 2019.

However, despite the challenges faced, Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) continued to move forward, with a number of capital projects making it over the line – which now need to be staffed.

Projects delivered in 2020 include the Reeves Day Surgery Centre which, located outside of the hospital campus, comprises of four theatres and 25 day beds.

Opened on time and budget, the Reeves centre, which aims to reduce day-procedure waiting lists, has to date carried out 1,500-day cases.

The 2,700m2 Varty Renal Unit also opened on time and budget in 2020, and robotic surgery arrived at TUH allowing surgeons to perform complex, minimally invasive surgical procedures.

TUH also introduced a new national Intellectual Disability Memory Clinic in partnership with the HSE, which provides diagnostic support, prevention strategies and brain health to people with Down syndrome.

Funding for an expansion to the ICU department was also secured in 2020, with construction underway for an opening date in Spring 2022.

A new electronic patient record systems is also under development, and due to launch this autumn.

The COPD team at TUH are among the 3,000 current employees at the local hospital

TUH CEO 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 prouder of my colleagues across the TUH campus ensuring services were adapted, maintained and restarted as soon as it was safe to do so.”

She added: “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.”

The jobs announced include nursing, medical and health and social care professionals, with a plan in place to recruit new staff over the next 12 to 18 months.

As Ms Nugent noted, one of the hospital’s Five-Year Strategy goals accelerated in 2020 was Digital Enabled Care – with many elements of the plan introduced during the early stages of the pandemic.

Advances in ICT included medical teams consulting with colleagues using wearable cameras, remote monitoring and virtual visiting.

Some 14,490 virtual visits for patients were arranged through hospital devices, with other patient centered initiatives including the delivery of 13,700 care packages and more than 1,200 ‘books in a bag’ provided to patients during their lockdown stay.

The Pastoral Care Service also provided virtual visits to patients, especially those feeling isolated.

During the pandemic, TUH also supported the care of 1,000 residents in 14 local nursing homes, with a specialist team using technology to facilitate communication, clinical review and an outreach service to nursing home staff and GPs.

TUH at a glance, source TUH Annual Report 2020

While the Annual Report looks back at an unprecedented year, it also looks forward – as TUH continues to build a “hospital for now and the future”.

Ongoing challenges with A&E and bed capacity continue.

However, Ms Nugent told The Echo that these two areas are a focus for 2021/2022, with plans for a six-storey, 72-bed unit on site currently at cost and analysis stage.

At the end of the year when Children’s Health Ireland’s new urgent care paediatric satellite centre opens, it will also free up the existing children’s A&E in the main hospital.

This space will be used to enhance the hospital’s acute floor, which works in tandem with A&E and the streamlining of patients presenting.

One of the busiest A&Es in the country, attendances at TUH’s emergency department were down seven per cent in 2020.

However, attendances are currently above normal levels.

“Our strategic plan is to improve access for patients on campus and off campus, creating a more integrated care patient journey,” Ms Nugent said.

“We want to reassure the community that we are continuing to move forward.

“We are taking the learnings from the pandemic and moving forward.

“We are building a hospital for both now and the future, the whole strategy for us is building a hospital with no walls.”

TUH still has a Covid ward and Covid streaming in place, with many of the new initiatives introduced, and the 500 Covid screens installed across the hospital, staying put.

Summing up 2020, Ms Nugent said: “I’m very proud of staff.

“Despite the pandemic they were able to keep moving forward and not be totally consumed by the pandemic, which at times was very challenging.

“I hugely recognise the impact the pandemic has had on staff and their families, and patients and their families.

“I’d also like to thank the community, we got huge support.

“We felt part of the community and felt really well supported.

“I know that staff appreciated this.”