Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar (formerly known as Longford-Westmeath Regional Hospital) is a public hospital located in Mullingar

Mullingar

Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1542, proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath...

, County Westmeath

County Westmeath

-Economy:Westmeath has a strong agricultural economy. Initially, development occurred around the major market centres of Mullingar, Moate, and Kinnegad. Athlone developed due to its military significance, and its strategic location on the main Dublin–Galway route across the River Shannon. Mullingar...

, 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,...

. It is managed by the Irish Government's Health Service Executive

Health Service Executive

The Health Service Executive is responsible for the provision of healthcare providing health and personal social services for everyone living in Ireland, with public funds. The Executive was established by the Health Act, 2004 and came into official operation on January 1, 2005...

 and provides acute-care hospital services, including a 24-hour emergency department

Emergency department

An emergency department , also known as accident & emergency , emergency room , emergency ward , or casualty department is a medical treatment facility specialising in acute care of patients who present without prior appointment, either by their own means or by ambulance...

, for the population of County Westmeath and the Irish Midlands. In 2008, the hospital served 70,454 out-patients, and 18,951 in-patients, with an average stay of 3.0 nights. 69.0% of admissions were made via the accident and emergency department

Emergency department

An emergency department , also known as accident & emergency , emergency room , emergency ward , or casualty department is a medical treatment facility specialising in acute care of patients who present without prior appointment, either by their own means or by ambulance...

 or 12,114 patients. In 2007, 35,767 patients presented to the emergency department. The hospital saw 6,851 day cases in the same year.

Services

The hospital provides 211 beds, of which 197 are in-patient acute beds, while 14 are reserved for acute day cases. In-patient services include general medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

, general surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

, accident and emergency, oncology

Oncology

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

, 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...

, orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology

Obstetrics and gynaecology

Obstetrics and gynaecology are the two surgical–medical specialties dealing with the female reproductive organs in their pregnant and non-pregnant state, respectively, and as such are often combined to form a single medical specialty and postgraduate training programme...

, haematology, paediatrics, anaesthesia, radiology

Radiology

Radiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...

.

Waiting times

The national median waiting time for surgery in November 2009 stood at 2.5 months; at Mullingar Regional this figure was 2.6 months. Overall waiting time was 2.2 months, below the national median of 2.4 months. As of November 2009, the National Treatment Purchase Fund listed the following waiting times for procedures:

Surgical

• adult patients waiting 3–6 months: 48
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 44
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 0
• child patients waiting 3–6 months: 0
• child surgical patients waiting 6–12 months: 2
• child surgical patients waiting over 12 months: 0

Medical

• adult patients waiting 3–6 months: 35
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 8
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 4
• child patients waiting 3–6 months: unavailable
• child patients waiting 6–12 months: unavailable
• child patients waiting over 12 months: unavailable

Hygiene

Independent audits rated hygiene levels as 63% satisfactory in 2005, rising to 94% in 2006. Hospital-acquired infection

Nosocomial infection

A nosocomial infection , also known as a hospital-acquired infection or HAI, is an infection whose development is favoured by a hospital environment, such as one acquired by a patient during a hospital visit or one developing among hospital staff...

 affected 2.9% of patients in 2007, with a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It is also called multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus...

(MRSA) infection rate of 0.09 per 1,000 bed days in 2007.