Paediatric Outpatient Urgent Care Centre to open

THE Paediatric Outpatient and Urgent Care Centre at Tallaght University Hospital is due to be fully opened to the public early next week.

The new care centre, which is being delivered as part of the new National Children’s Hospital at St James’s, will officially open to young patients on Monday, November 15.

According to information provided by CHI earlier this year, the Tallaght centre will include outpatient clinics and urgent care services for the treatment of ‘minor injury and illness that requires prompt treatment but is not life-threatening and does not require a visit to the Emergency Department’.

The centre will include a short stay observation unit where children are ‘observed and treated’ for up to six hours before being discharged.

Some children may require onward referral to one of the paediatric hospitals at Crumlin or Temple Street, until the new national children’s hospital opens on the St James’s site.

According to previous figures released, CHI expects the new facility at Tallaght to provide 17,000 outpatient appointments (General Paediatrics and Orthopaedic clinics) and 25,000 urgent care attendances annually.

Further information on the new care centre at Tallaght will be released in the coming days, with members of the public encouraged to follow Children’s Health Ireland and Tallaght University Hospital on Facebook.