Funding plea for National Spinal Injuries Centre

A PLEA for more funding for the National Spinal Injuries Centre that has just six beds to serve the entire country is being backed by the Joint Committee for Health and Children.

Despite official recognition as a national centre, the unit, based in Dublin’s Mater Hospital, has never been allocated specific funding. And while the unit accepts patients with a spinal chord injury from hospitals around the country, regardless of bed availability, those with other spinal injuries, including unstable injuries needing operative fixation have to wait three days.

A Comhairle na n-Ospidéal report in 1990 recommending the establishment of the centre estimated at the time that the unit would have a maximum of 40 admissions per year. The comhairle report also clearly stated that all other spinal fractures where there was no spinal cord injury should be treated in regional hospitals.