Health briefing

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

 Cork urgent care centre treats 3,000 since March

A NEW urgent care centre in Cork operated by the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) has treated some 3,000 patients since opening in March with most patients being treated and discharged in little over an hour, MUH management have revealed.

The Mercy Urgent Care Centre opened in the grounds of the former St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital in Gurranebraher as part of a planned restructuring of emergency services in Cork city hospitals which, on average, treat almost 90,000 people a year.

Under the restructuring, the emergency department at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital closed last month with emergency services being concentrated at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and the MUH.

A new acute medical unit and a new medical assessment unit opened at CUH while the HSE South invested some €800,000 in the establishment of the Mercy Urgent Care Centre which operates under the governance of MUH and is staffed by 15 health professionals.

Yesterday, MUH’s chief executive, Sandra Daly, revealed that the most common injuries being treated at the urgent care centre are hand and ankle injuries with the average turnaround time from registration to discharge being just 65 minutes.

Just over 1,500 were self-referrals with the remainder being referred by other services such as general practitioners, said Ms Daly adding that the care centre, which is open 8am-6pm, seven days a week, sees on average 21 people a day with numbers dropping off at weekends.

BARRY ROCHE

New hepatitis C drugs to cost €30 million next year

THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) has forecast that it will cost €30 million next year to pay for new drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C which the Minister for Health, James Reilly, has said must be funded.

In a letter to the chief executive of the HSE, Cathal Magee, in June, the secretary general of the Department of Health, Ambrose McLoughlin, said the two drugs – boceprevir and telaprevir – should be approved for use and that treatment should commence without delay.

“The Minister has met with representatives of State-infected patients with hepatitis C. He has also met with Dr Barry White, national director for clinical strategy and programmes.

“The Minister is satisfied that there is considerable clinical risk associated with not proceeding with the treatment of clinically appropriate patients with the new drugs to treat hepatitis C [telaprevir and boceprevir].”

In a replying letter on the same day, Mr Magee confirmed that the decision to fund the two drugs would be implemented by the HSE.

However, he said “the additional costs of these drugs is estimated at €3 million this year and up to €30 million next year”.

“You will be aware from our service plan that no funding is in place with the HSE for new drugs and current spend on drugs is significantly exceeding the approved vote allocation.”

The issue of funding for expensive new drugs and medicines at a time of shrinking health budgets has proved highly controversial over recent months.

MARTIN WALL

Information guide for Parkinson's

PARKINSON’S DISEASE was on the world stage recently as 29 million people watched sufferer Muhammad Ali at the Olympic opening ceremony.

The Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists has produced an information advice guide for Parkinson's sufferers and for their families, carers and friends. The tips include ways to communicate with sufferers and advice for people who have difficulties swallowing as a result of the disease. To get a copy of the advice sheet, see Iaslt.ie.