A modern state-of-the art ward complex has officially opened in neighbouring Croom Hospital.

The Maigue Unit, aptly named as the river Maigue flows through Croom village, includes 24 en-suite single rooms which are built around a courtyard garden area, and forms a visually stunning architectural showpiece at the entrance to Croom Orthopaedic Hospital.

Work is also ongoing on the first floor of the facility to complete a new €15m theatre suite, complete with four new operating theatres, a first stage recovery room and reception area, as well as a new Sterile Services Department and other ancillary support spaces.

The development is part of ongoing advancements that, during 2021, will see the phased opening of the first floor facilities to also include a pre-operative assessment and admissions unit and a new Day Ward.

Croom Orthopaedic Hospital first opened as the County Hospital in 1924. It has been an orthopaedic hospital since 1956, save for two months in mid-2020, when it accepted its first medical patients in almost 70 years as part of the UL Hospitals strategy for managing a surge in non-Covid admissions.

Katie Sheehan, Assistant Director of Nursing at Croom explains that the immediate focus is on recruiting staff nurses with an interest in orthopaedic and theatre services. Ms. Sheehan, who started her own career in Croom in the early 1980s, explained: “Any nurse joining the staff in Croom is coming in at an incredibly exciting time. There is a real sense of rejuvenation”.

The new facilities and working environment of an organisation going through a succession of exciting, positive changes are an obvious attraction. Nurses will also be able to rotate between Croom and University Hospital Limerick, and benefit from the plentiful postgraduate educational opportunities that flow from UL Hospitals Group’s partnership with the University of Limerick.

For a full report click on https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/health/615898/state-of-the-art-ward-complex-opens-at-long-established-limerick-hospital.html

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