The Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore is a public hospital located in Tullamore

Tullamore

Tullamore is a town in County Offaly, in the midlands of Ireland. It is Offaly's county town and the centre of the district.Tullamore is an important commercial and industrial centre in the region. Major international employers in the town include 'Tyco Healthcare' and 'Boston Scientific'. In...

, County Offaly

County Offaly

County Offaly is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Midlands Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe and was formerly known as King's County until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Offaly County Council is...

, 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 Offaly and the Irish Midlands. In 2008, the hospital served 77,459 out-patients, and 9,756 in-patients, with an average stay of 5.5 nights. 75.1% 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 7,090 patients. In 2007, 31,231 patients presented to the emergency department. The hospital saw 21,376 day cases in the same year.

Services

The hospital provides 254 beds, of which 207 are in-patient acute beds, while 47 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...

, 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:...

 and 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...

, orthopaedics, otorhinolaryngology (ENT), 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...

, 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:...

, 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...

, vascular surgery

Vascular surgery

Vascular surgery is a specialty of surgery in which diseases of the vascular system, or arteries and veins, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures, and surgical reconstruction. The specialty evolved from general and cardiac surgery...

, 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 Tullamore Regional this figure was 3.2 months. Overall waiting time was 3.2 months, above 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: 247
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 173
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 15
• child patients waiting 3–6 months: 185
• child surgical patients waiting 6–12 months: 73
• child surgical patients waiting over 12 months: 13

Medical

• adult patients waiting 3–6 months: 23
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 15
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 1
• 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 73% satisfactory in 2005, rising to 82% 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 1.2% 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 0.21 per 1,000 bed days in 2007.