University Hospital Waterford

University Hospital Waterford (formerly known as Ardkeen Hospital, and later Waterford Regional Hospital abbreviated as WRH) is a public teaching hospital located in Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland.^[1][2] It is managed by the Irish Government's Health Service Executive and provides acute-care hospital services, including a 24-hour emergency department,^[2] for the population of County Waterford and the South East. In 2008, the hospital served 122,837 out-patients, and 23,367 in-patients, with an average stay of 6.3 nights.^[2] In 2009, 65,160 patients presented to the emergency department, of which 17,264 were admitted. 70.7% of all admissions were made via the accident and emergency department. The hospital saw 17,978 day cases in the same year. In 2008, there were 2,598 live births.^[2] University College Cork is its primary academic partner, and it is also affiliated with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Waterford Institute of Technology.^[1][3][4]

Services

The hospital provides 429 beds, of which 71 are reserved for acute day cases.^[2] A further 45 beds are for psychiatric services. In-patient services include general medicine, general surgery, accident and emergency, dermatology, nephrology and dialysis, oncology, ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology, cardiology, paediatrics, endocrinology, geriatrics, rheumatology, orthopaedics, otorhinolaryngology, haematology, psychiatry, respiratory medicine, anaesthesia, pathology, urology, and radiology.^[2]

The hospital is one of the eight cancer centres of the HSE's National Cancer Control Programme and one of two centres in the HSE South Network. Cancer services include chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments at St. Luke's Hospital, Rathgar; Whitfield Centre, Waterford; and Cork University Hospital.^[5]

Waiting times

The national median waiting time for surgery in November 2009 stood at 2.5 months; at Waterford this figure was 2.9 months. Overall waiting time for all procedures was 2.9 months, above the national median of 2.4 months.^[6] As of November 2009,^[6] the National Treatment Purchase Fund listed the following waiting times for procedures:

Surgical

• adult patients waiting 3–6 months: 199
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 127
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 9
• child patients waiting 3–6 months: 12
• child patients waiting 6–12 months: 15
• child patients waiting over 12 months: 0

Medical

• adult patients waiting 3–6 months: 4
• adult patients waiting 6–12 months: 0
• adult patients waiting over 12 months: 0
• child patients waiting 3–6 months: 1
• child patients waiting 6–12 months: 0
• child patients waiting over 12 months: 0

Hygiene

Independent audits rated hygiene levels as 62% satisfactory in 2005,^[7] rising to 86% in 2006.^[8] Hospital-acquired infection affected 3.0% of patients in 2007, with a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection rate of 0.18 per 1,000 bed days in 2007.^[2]

In 2010, Waterford was the first hospital in Ireland to achieve "very good performance" status by the HSE.^[9]

References