Over 20,000 appointments now shifted to new outpatient facility
By Mary Dennehy
MORE than 20,000 appointments are now set to take place annually in a new community-based outpatient facility – after Tallaght University Hospital completed its move of clinics this week.
Based in Tallaght Cross, the SIMMS building is 15,000 square feet of purpose-built, modern outpatient facilities located within 500 metres of the hospital’s main entrance.
(from left) Lucy Nugent (Chief Executive of TUH), Catherine Heaney (Chair of the TUH Patient Community Advisory Council and Fettercairn Community Health Project Co-ordinator) and Professor Richard Firth (Consultant Endocrinologist at TUH)
The move of a number of outpatient clinics from the hospital campus to the SIMMS building is part of Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) plans to relocate suitable services into the community.
The move, which hopes to help build a “hospital without walls”, also frees up much-needed space on the main campus.
Last October, TUH moved its Endocrinology, Diabetes and Podiatry outpatient services to the SIMMS building.
This week, the hospital announced that it has completed its move of outpatient services, after its neurology clinics have now relocated to the health hub.
Commenting on the completion of the move, Lucy Nugent, Chief Executive of TUH said; “I would like to acknowledge the enormous effort by a large team of staff in the hospital and support from the HSE in moving these clinics out of the hospital and into the community.
(from left) In the new Neurology Outpatient Department are Nadia Macken (Multiple Sclerosis Nurse), Sean O’Dowd (Consultant Neurologist), Dr Richard Walsh (Consultant Neurologist), Trevor O’Callaghan (Chief Executive, Dublin Midlands Hospital Group), Prof Dominick McCabe (Consultant Neurologist), Emmet Kelly (Clinical Nurse Manager), Dr Sinéad M Murphy (Consultant Neurologist) and Lucy Nugent (Chief Executive, TUH)
“Feedback from staff working in this modern facility and from our patients is overwhelmingly positive and brings us a step forward in our vision for healthcare into the community and being a hospital without walls.”
The hospital also officially opened the Robert Graves Exhibition which is on permanent display on Level 2 of the SIMMS building, in the Robert Graves Institute of Endocrinology.
According to Mairead Shields, Chairman of the Meath Foundation: “A large number of patients attend the Robert Graves Institute of Endocrinology in the SIMMS Building.
At the opening of the Robert Graves Exhibition on Level 2 of the Simms Building are Mairéad Shields (Chairperson of the Meath Foundation), Lucy Nugent (Chief Executive of TUH) and Dr John Barragry (Vice Chair of the Meath Foundation)
“I am delighted to see the permanent exhibition open which displays the history of diabetes and the changing treatments that have been in development over the years providing something for patients to read while waiting for their appointments.
“Moving into this new building enables the clinicians to continue research into this area of medicine, but it is also important to recognise the long tradition of teaching from the past.”
