Works to extend neonatal intensive care unit at University Maternity Hospital Limerick progressing
THE first phase of a two-stage project to extend the neonatal intensive care unit at University Maternity Hospital Limerick and refurbish the department's existing facilities will be complete in the coming weeks.
The UL Hospitals Group says phase one has involved building a two-storey extension to accommodate staff and parents’ facilities which are currently located in the existing neonatal unit.
This, it says has created the opportunity to refurbish and expand cot spaces which will be undertaken in the second phase of the project.
The new structure, facing the Ennis Road, will house parents' accommodation, a new lactation centre to support breastfeeding, and a clinical engineering unit, as well as support facilities for neonatal nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, and secretarial teams.
It is envisaged that the extension will also include dedicated areas for clinical teaching and research.
A spokesperson for UL Hospitals says the progress will allow for the refurbishment and expansion of cot spaces in the department’s intensive care, high dependency and isolation areas.
"This will help to avoid crowding and reduce the chances of infection outbreaks. It is planned also, in line with international evidence and on foot of feedback from parents, to create two family-centred care rooms," he stated.
The project’s Clinical Lead, consultant neonatologist Prof Roy K Philip, has welcomed the imminent completion of the first phase.
"UMHL is more than six decades old, and as time has gone by, the spatial and infrastructural limitations of the hospital have often presented challenges to the delivery of safe, high quality care for the most premature and critically ill newborn infants. It was in that context that UL Hospitals Group CEO Colette Cowan has championed the project for funding prioritisation by the HSE," he said.
"We are following a blended design concept and with the cooperation of all the staff at UMHL, we are confident of developing one of the best neonatal units in the country," he added.
The efurbishment project is one of a number of initiatives being undertaken to improve services at UMHL, pending the eventual relocation of the maternity hospital from its stand-alone city centre site on the Ennis Road to the University Hospital Limerick campus in Dooradoyle - as envisaged in the Ireland 2040 plan.
UL Hospitals Group Director of Midwifery, Ms Eileen Ronan, has welcomed the enhanced infrastructure and facilities that the modular unit will provide to neonatal infants at UMHL, especially the dedicated lactation unit and the enhanced space to provide a safe clinical environment for infants and staff.
University Maternity Hospital Limerick was opened in 1960, and at the time it was envisaged that the hospital would manage approximately 3,000 births per year.
In recent years, there have been over 4,200 deliveries per year, and in addition to this capacity issue, pregnancy and childbirth has become increasingly complex.