Hospitals join up in providing care for patients with diagnosis of heart failure
By Mary Dennehy
TALLAGHT University Hospital has collaborated with Naas General Hospital in a ‘joined-up thinking’ project, which provides care for patients who have a diagnosis of heart failure.
The new service to Naas General Hospital will for the first time provide patient-centred local access to specialist heart failure management in the County Kildare region – with patients no longer having to travel to Tallaght from Wicklow and Kildare.
Sarah Fall (CANP, TUH), Michelle Carey (CNS, TUH), Alice Kinsella (General Manager, NGH), Anne Murphy (Director of Nursing, NGH), Maeve Fitzgerald (OPD, NGH), Jan Clancy (Cardiac Diagnostics, NGH), Brian Kearney (Operations Manager, NGH) and Ger Hogan (Cardiac Rehab, NGH)
The new service is being delivered as part of the Sláintecare Integrated care fund.
More than 470 applications to the Sláinte Care Integration Fund initiative were received, with the collaborative project between Naas and Tallaght one of the 122 projects from across the country that were successful.
Commenting on the new service, Lucy Nugent, CEO of Tallaght University Hospital (TUH), said: “Integrated care and the delivery of the Sláintecare programme is one of our key priorities as highlighted in the Hospital’s strategic plan – this new service will ensure patients have ready access to the right care at the right time in the right place.”
The service aims to enhance a ‘seamless system of care’ that would include the hospital and community throughout the patients’ journey.
It will help care for patients with heart failure closer to home and keep them out of hospital.
TUH and Naas General Hospital are both within the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group.
According to Trevor O’Callaghan, CEO of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group: “This project shows how joined-up thinking and working in partnership can help us reach our strategic imperatives which are in line with the Sláintecare Programme.
“We are committed to working with our partners to ensure we safely develop how services can shift from hospitals to community, while also reducing waiting lists and improving experiences for patients and staff across the health and social care system in Ireland. I look forward to seeing how this example of integration develops over the coming period.”
Welcoming the commencement of the project, Alice Kinsella General Manager at Nass said: “I would like to acknowledge the work of the team in Naas, working with Tallaght University Hospital, to develop this service which will serve to improve the care available to our patients.”
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