Working life: Professor Ronan O’Sullivan

6.45am

I’ve six kids, the oldest is 13. I give a hand with the youngest, two girls aged one and two, but I’m mainly on porridge duty. I drop my eldest, Caoimhe, to school en route to work at Bon Secours Hospital, Cork.

7.45am

I head to our new medical assessment unit (MAU). The first half hour tends towards administration unless patients were pre-booked the day before and arrive early. Otherwise, I catch up on academic work — correcting theses, or keeping abreast of the latest research.

9am

This morning I’m treating an elderly patient with a respiratory condition in need of intravenous antibiotics and rehydration. He’s admitted to hospital. Patients who attend the MAU pay €125 on arrival and then on a fee-per-item basis for any investigations. The average cost is circa €260 for discharged patients. The maximum fee is €495 but all but €50 is waived if they’re admitted — and over 70% are.

11am

A nurse triages patients as they arrive and it’s usually fairly clear early on whether they need to be admitted. With the exception of “blue light” patients (eg cardiac arrest or stroke) we treat most medical problems you see in an emergency department. The difference is a consultant sees you on arrival, no-one’s on trolleys, access to diagnostics is rapid and patient turnaround times much faster, with admission to a bed without delay.

1pm

Lunch is hit and miss. Patients arrive throughout the afternoon. All are GP referrals.

3pm

More acute patients tend to arrive in the afternoon. We’re regularly busy beyond the 6pm closing time, after which patients cannot attend. If someone needs to be seen after that we arrange for them to attend first thing next morning. By the time we’ve seen everyone and tidied up loose ends, its usually 8-9pm.

9.30pm

When I get home, the kids are in bed, thanks to my amazing wife Ber. I’ve weekends off but that’s set to change in the future with extended opening hours. Occasionally, I get a colleague to cover for me, but it’s often to deal with duties attached to my role as a member of the executive at UCC School of Medicine, so downtime is negligible.

* Professor Ronan O’Sullivan is consultant in emergency medicine, Bon Secours Hospital, Cork.