Letterkenny General Hospital
Encyclopedia
Letterkenny General Hospital (LGH) is an acute hospital serving 147,000 inhabitants of County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...

 in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. The hospital currently employs over 1700 people, with more than 565 of these being nursing staff . It contains around 360 beds at present.

History

The General Hospital replaced the County Hospital which opened in 1832 and closed on August 31, 1960. Nowadays the hospital consists of a single storey building that dates from the 1960s, and a multi-storey extension built above this and opened in 1981. Most of the facilities are housed in this building but some, such as the dental, ophthalmic and some mental health facilities, are housed across the road in St. Conal's Psychiatric Hospital
St. Conal's Psychiatric Hospital
St. Conal’s Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. It is adjacent to Letterkenny Town Park near Letterkenny General Hospital. It is the only psychiatric hospital located in County Donegal and is considered to be "one of the finest buildings in the...

.

Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...

, awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...

, and his wife were driven here after Seamus had a stroke in 2006.

On 14 July 2009 a gang of men entered the hospital, one of them brandishing an axe. He subsequently made his way to floor E where he baricaded himself into the staff room. Areas of the hospital were sealed off during the incident to prevent further movement. The man was later talked out by family members and staff and surrendered the axe. It is understood that the man was making his way to the intensive care unit to visit the husband of a deceased member of his family. He had taken an overdose after his wife died in a car crash. It is also believed that a man entered the intensive care unit dressed as a priest with a knife hidden under his garments. He left the scene peacefully.

Layout

The main hospital building has a total of five storeys, labelled Floors A to E in ascending order. Upper floors may be accessed by stairs or by lifts, of which there are three. Floor A is dedicated to reception, administration and the day clinic and also contains the hospital shop.

Floor B contains the Emergency Department, Coronary Care Unit, radiography, medical wards 1, 2 and 3, maternity unit, gynaecology ward, post department, stationery department, coffee dock and staff canteen amongst others. Floor C houses the orthopaedic and paediatric units and Floor D houses surgical wards 1 and 2, as well as the HDU (High Dependency Unit). Floor E is Theatre where most surgery takes place and is also where the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and its waiting room may be found.

In November 2008 it was confirmed that work was to begin on a new emergency department and medical wards at the hospital measuring in the region of 6,600 square metres. Construction began in January 2009, at a cost of approximately €22 million, and is expected to be completed in late 2010. The new facility will provide three medical floors which will consist of 72 beds, two thirds of which will be provided in single rooms. The new Emergency Department will have 19 treatment spaces, incorporate an 11 bed Medical Assessment Unit and an X-Ray room. The mortuary chapel will be moved from its current position to a new location during construction.

Hospital specialities


  • Accident and Emergency
  • Anaesthetics
  • Cardiology
    Cardiology
    Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...

  • Dental surgery
    Dental surgery
    Dental surgery is any of a number of medical procedures that involve artificially modifying dentition, in other words surgery of the teeth and jaw bones.-Types:Some of the more common are:...

  • Dermatology
    Dermatology
    Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....

  • Dialysis
    Dialysis
    In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...

  • Endocrinology
    Endocrinology
    Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...

  • General medicine
  • General surgery
    General surgery
    General surgery, despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal organs, e.g., intestines including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland . They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft...

  • Geriatric medicine
  • Gynaecology
    Gynaecology
    Gynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...

  • Haematology

  • Maxillofacial
  • Nephrology
    Nephrology
    Nephrology is a branch of internal medicine and pediatrics dealing with the study of the function and diseases of the kidney.-Scope of the specialty:...

  • Obstetrics
    Obstetrics
    Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...

  • Ophthalmology
    Ophthalmology
    Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...

  • Oncology
    Oncology
    Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...

  • Orthopaedics
  • Otolaryngology (ENT)
    Otolaryngology
    Otolaryngology or ENT is the branch of medicine and surgery that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders....

  • Paediatrics
  • Respiratory medicine
    Respiratory Medicine
    The Respiratory Medicine journal is published by Elsevier Science. Its subjects are internal medicine and practice of medicine.Its ISSN is 0954-6111. Its impact factor in 2004 was 2,086....

  • Rheumatology
    Rheumatology
    Rheumatology is a sub-specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, devoted to diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases. Clinicians who specialize in rheumatology are called rheumatologists...

  • Warfarin
    Warfarin
    Warfarin is an anticoagulant. It is most likely to be the drug popularly referred to as a "blood thinner," yet this is a misnomer, since it does not affect the thickness or viscosity of blood...


External links

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