To maintain its position as the third best hospital in the State, the Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar will have a budget of more than €1 million each week, with which it brings over 3,000 new little citizens onto the planet each year, and looks after nearly 90 people a day in its A&E department.
These were some of the figures released this week in reply to Cllr Mick Dollard’s enquiries after a meeting of the HSE’s regional health forum.
Cllr Dollard had asked the HSE to provide a list of all services at the Mullingar Regional Hospital, and was told it was to have a 2011 budget of €55.96 million, up nearly €3 million from last year due to service improvements, with which it would operate 178 beds. Of these, 160 were dedicated in-patient, with 12 day-bed, and six for medical assessment.
Other figures of note released were that in 2010 Mullingar Regional Hospital had 19,121 inpatient discharges (ie 52 admissions per day ), with an average stay of just over three and a quarter days per patient.
The hospital also dealt with 7,024 day case procedures, facilitated 3,001 births, up from 2,516 in 2007, and recorded an enormous 31,877 A&E attendances.
Last month it was revealed the hospital would have its annual budget increased by €2,535,000 because of its improvements in services, patient throughput, and reduced waiting lists. This was the second consecutive year that the hospital got a budget increase, following the €2.3 million bonus it received in January 2010.
Last May, the hospital was revealed as the third best out of the 27 teaching, regional and general hospitals in the State, behind Wexford General and St James’s in Dublin. Only these three were given a “very good performance” mark; 22 hospitals were deemed “average, with room for improvement”, while only Cork University Hospital and University College Hospital, Galway were judged as “unsatisfactory, requiring urgent attention”.
Services provided at Mullingar Regional Hospital include a centre of excellence in obstetrics and gynaecology; general medicine and surgery in endoscopy, gerontology, endocrinology, cardiology, respiritory medicine, and stroke; paediatrics; pathology; dermatology; out-patient; and A&E services.
“The aim of the hospital is to deliver a quality-driven, people-centred servicce to the people of the region, particularly in the Longford/West6meath area,” said assistant national director of acute services, James Conway.
