Two permanent consultants set to improve hospital emergency services
These posts, along with two new posts for consultant geriatricians, have been advertised for the hospital this month, the HSE confirmed yesterday.
The Tralee emergency unit is one of the busiest in the country, with more than 33,000 attendances in 2009. There will be close links with Cork University Hospital, with regular clinical sessions provided by Cork-based consultants and vice-versa.
Work on the construction of the emergency unit, in Tralee, is planned to commence next October. It will include a three-bay resuscitation room, additional treatment and observation facilities, improved waiting areas and special facilities for children.
The consultant geriatricians, meanwhile, will join an existing geriatrician, ensuring a significantly enhanced level of service for older people throughout the county, says the HSE.
HSE local health manager in Kerry Michael Fitzgerald described the additional posts as a significant development for the health services in the county.
Meanwhile, the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre has called for clarification on the future of a sexual assault treatment unit for the county. A unit in Kerry General Hospital was closed in 2004 due to lack of funding. Since then, victims must travel to Cork, following an assault.
Brid McElligott, chair of the board of management of the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, Tralee, claimed €100,000 was available for a unit, but was not being drawn down.
A HSE spokesman said the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) for the Southern Hospitals Group catchment area was located in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, Cork.
However, the HSE would continue to pursue the improvement of service response for patients presenting at Kerry General Hospital, following a sexual assault, and senior health management in Kerry were engaging with Kerry Rape Crisis Unit on the issue.
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