EDITORIAL: New Tipperary health services welcome but the system is still broken

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly was in Tipperary this week to visit new facilities and sprinkle some feel-good factor about the place.

Unfortunately, coming up with suitable, meaningful answers to the growing problems at Unversity Hospital Limerick were not to be included in his magic wand on this occasion. Minister Donnelly attended, and officially opened, the new Women’s Health Hub, which is located in the €1.4m extension built at the Outpatients Department at Nenagh Hospital.

The new Health Hub, is a very welcome addition and comes under the clinical governance of University Maternity Hospital Limerick. In addition to providing much needed health services for women and adolescent girls, it will also have benefits for the UHL hospital system overall by freeing up clinic and theatre capacity for the management of more complex gynaecological patients. The management of less complex investigations and procedures can now take place in Nenagh.

Minister Donnelly also visited the HSE’s ECC Integrated Care Programme for Older People (ICPOP) Care Hub, North Tipperary on the grounds of the Community Hospital of the Assumption, Thurles. There, he met with residents and staff of the Community Hospital of the Assumption and visited the newly built Thurles Primary Care Centre during his visit. Again, these are very welcome additions to the public facilities in the region.

This new ICPOP service will support people to live independently in their own homes, through the early diagnosis and prevention of the progression of health issues. It facilitates the older people of North Tipperary with rapid access to comprehensive assessments which are provided by a Community Consultant-led multidisciplinary team.

So, good news on two fronts this week with these new facilities. Now, to try and deal with UHL - magic dust indeed is needed.