Loughlinstown A&E closing

lighterman

How do the ambulance personnel on here feel about this.Will it make a significant difference as i hear alot of calls are being by-passed anyway.

Capri

lighterman wrote: »

How do the ambulance personnel on here feel about this.Will it make a significant difference as i hear alot of calls are being by-passed anyway.

As a 'customer' of A+E from the Wicklow direction, I thought it HAD closed until a friend of mine was brought there last month. Question is - have the ambulances sufficient equipment on board to ensure survival of say a heart patient until they reach Vincent's 10 mins later

lighterman

As a customer also i am surprised it stayed open for as long as it did.I was up there on a saturday night on a bed where there was 2 other patients and 5 nurses sitting across the way from me in a circle talking.If it was like this every night i cant see any difference being made.

At the most from visting people it seems as if its an old dated nursing home with a supposed A&E attached.I also realise its not like years ago when the ambulances where bringing in everyone and everything.From what i seen that night everything ambulance wise was going to vincents.i'm sure a saturday night should be more busier than 3 patients and an empty waiting room but i just wanted to see what the ambulance people thought of it

sgt.bilko

My understanding is that as SVUH is classed as a centre of excellence, that any trauma related incident from south of SVUH (if you get my logic) is brought to SVUH.

Nearly all other cases are brought to St Michaels in Dun Laoghaire which comes under the SVUH Group.

lighterman

I think st michael only have what they are proposing for loughlinstown.minor injuries etc.

Capri

Capri wrote: »

As a 'customer' of A+E from the Wicklow direction, I thought it HAD closed until a friend of mine was brought there last month. Question is - have the ambulances sufficient equipment on board to ensure survival of say a heart patient until they reach Vincent's 10 mins later

Considering the distances they travel outside of Dublin to hospitals then I'd guess they are going to be fine.

mr.dunkey

Capri wrote: »

As a 'customer' of A+E from the Wicklow direction, I thought it HAD closed until a friend of mine was brought there last month. Question is - have the ambulances sufficient equipment on board to ensure survival of say a heart patient until they reach Vincent's 10 mins later

If the patient is really sick,Broken bones, GI bleed,Heart attack they go to Vincents anyhow.Loughlinstown is bypassed

lighterman

mr.dunkey wrote: »

If the patient is really sick,Broken bones, GI bleed,Heart attack they go to Vincents anyhow.Loughlinstown is bypassed

I thought they took GI bleeds.I'm not doubting just stating i thought they did.Am i right by saying they still have a resus for cardiac arrests.

Bang Bang

The by-pass protocol for patients going to St. Vincent's by ambulance listed 'certain' types/levels of trauma, confirmed factures, significant falls, RTC's (minor RTC's were dealt with by St. Colmcille's), significant head trauma.
Medical included Stroke, within the timeframe. Heart attack - STEMI, Upper GI bleeds.
ALL paediatric calls.

Paramedic discretion was however added to the protocol where if suspicion of something sinister lay with the patient then the paramedic could contact St. Vincent's and discuss same with a doctor with the view of by-passing St. Colmcille's.

Everything else went to St. Colmcille's, that would include the numerous calls related to alcohol, the regular 'generally unwell' patients, the sore finger for three months that has now become an 'emergency' and the numerous nursing homes. The area covered by St. Colmcille's extends from Leopardstown in Dublin to south of Arklow in Co. Wicklow. That's a lot of nursing homes, generally unwell and 'emergency' sore finger patients.

St. Michael's in Dun Laoighre only accepts ambulances from 8am to 6pm from the catchment area of Dun Laoighre, Monkstown, Sallynoggin, Dalkey, Glasthule, Sandycove, parts of Killiney and Glenageary. After 6pm St. Colmcille's accepts ambulances from those areas.

So St. Colmcille's is a busy Emergency Department, it handles well what it is equipped to handle. The areas I've listed above and all those categories of calls that do not meet the by-pass protocol will from this coming week be taken to St. Vincent's ED and that is a lot of additional patients from a huge catchment area to be taken taken in by the staff of St. Vincent's Emergency Department.

St. Vincent's catchment area will now take in all those areas I've listed on top of it's own immediate catchment areas of Ballsbridge, Irishtown,Sandyford, Dundrum, Donnybrook, Booterstown, Blackrock, Stillorgan to name but a few. That's a lot of additional pressure and workload to be placed on an ambulance service and one emergency department.

lighterman

Bang Bang wrote: »

The by-pass protocol for patients going to St. Vincent's by ambulance listed 'certain' types/levels of trauma, confirmed factures, significant falls, RTC's (minor RTC's were dealt with by St. Colmcille's), significant head trauma.
Medical included Stroke, within the timeframe. Heart attack - STEMI, Upper GI bleeds.
ALL paediatric calls.

Paramedic discretion was however added to the protocol where if suspicion of something sinister lay with the patient then the paramedic could contact St. Vincent's and discuss same with a doctor with the view of by-passing St. Colmcille's.

Everything else went to St. Colmcille's, that would include the numerous calls related to alcohol, the regular 'generally unwell' patients, the sore finger for three months that has now become an 'emergency' and the numerous nursing homes. The area covered by St. Colmcille's extends from Leopardstown in Dublin to south of Arklow in Co. Wicklow. That's a lot of nursing homes, generally unwell and 'emergency' sore finger patients.

St. Michael's in Dun Laoighre only accepts ambulances from 8am to 6pm from the catchment area of Dun Laoighre, Monkstown, Sallynoggin, Dalkey, Glasthule, Sandycove, parts of Killiney and Glenageary. After 6pm St. Colmcille's accepts ambulances from those areas.

So St. Colmcille's is a busy Emergency Department, it handles well what it is equipped to handle. The areas I've listed above and all those categories of calls that do not meet the by-pass protocol will from this coming week be taken to St. Vincent's ED and that is a lot of additional patients from a huge catchment area to be taken taken in by the staff of St. Vincent's Emergency Department.

St. Vincent's catchment area will now take in all those areas I've listed on top of it's own immediate catchment areas of Ballsbridge, Irishtown,Sandyford, Dundrum, Donnybrook, Booterstown, Blackrock, Stillorgan to name but a few. That's a lot of additional pressure and workload to be placed on an ambulance service and one emergency department.

Will loughlinstown still be taking ambulances. Like the alcohol calls and broken finger name calls. They're not emergencies after all

Bang Bang

lighterman wrote: »

Will loughlinstown still be taking ambulances. Like the alcohol calls and broken finger name calls. They're not emergencies after all

No ambulances at all. Although it is mentioned that GP referral calls will be accepted these won't necessarily be by ambulance. So all 999/112 "Emergency" ambulance calls regardless of their categorisation will be transported to St. Vincent's with the exception of paediatrics and maternity calls.

Update: GP's will be required to ring a dedicated line to confirm acceptance as there are limited spaces. (although there are limited spaces in most hospitals now!)