The Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU ) for Mullingar is set to open this month, according to the HSE.
The long awaited development will see sexual assault victims from around the region receiving their initial support locally without enduring the further trauma of having to travel to Dublin.
The opening was originally planned for late 2008 but according to the HSE this was delayed due to operational issues. It has been agreed that in the interests of staff and most importantly potential service users, to defer the opening until January 2009.
Joe Ruane, local health manager said the HSE regretted the delay in the opening but added: “It is the correct and proper course of action, in the interests of all those who may have to avail of the full complete service".
The unit will be based within the Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar where all necessary equipment is in place. In total, there will be nearly 30 staff associated with the unit, including 11 doctors and 12 nurses who will be working on-call while there will be three full-time staff including a Forensic nurse and clinical nurse specialist and a clerical officer.
A key worker at the Unit will be the forensic nurse specialist who received her training through the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland and the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin. She will be completing her Higher Diploma in a matter of weeks and will take up her position at Mullingar.
Her role and training are particularly specialised and will involve working on a one-to-one basis with those who have suffered a sexual assault.
Key staff who will be working in the unit, received a day’s training on December 15. These included a doctor who formerly worked in the Rotunda Hospital, a nurse from the Rotunda Hospital and a representative from the Forensic Science Lab who is based in the Garda Headquarters at Phoenix Park.
A number of local politicians, including Senator Nicky McFadden and Laois/Offaly Fine Gael Deputy Olwyn Enright, whose constituency will also be served by the unit, have been vocal in their concerns about the suffering of men and women who have had to travel long distances to Dublin overnight, still wearing the clothes they were assaulted in, in order to get treatment and be forensically examined.
The opening will come as a relief to victims and their families and will provide a welcome additional service to local health care providers.
