Opening of day unit at CUH marks new beginning for CF patient care

THE OPENING later this month of a new dedicated day unit for people with cystic fibrosis at Cork University Hospital will see a fundamental change in the manner in which care is delivered to those with the disease in Munster, a leading respiratory consultant has predicted.

According to Dr Barry Plant, who was appointed in September 2007 as programme lead for adult CF care at CUH, the new five-bedroom ambulatory care facility marks the start of an important phase in the hospital’s provision of care for CF sufferers.

The new centre, which has been developed for less than €1 million, is located in a part of the CUH campus which became free when dialysis services were transferred to the new cardiac renal unit which opened at the hospital last October.

The new CF ambulatory care unit comprises five individual isolation rooms solely for CF patients, a dedicated gym as exercise is vital to healthy adults with CF, a multi-disciplinary team room and consultation suites.

The unit is also immediately adjacent to the hospital’s specialist diabetes facilities as some 25 per cent of CF patients are affected by diabetes. It is also near the hospital’s rheumatology services as those with CF are affected by osteoporosis.

Dr Plant is assisted by Dr Des Murphy, who supports the outpatient work, while CUH’s two other respiratory consultants, Dr Michael Henry and Dr Marcus Kennedy, provide cover. The staff also includes a registrar, two full-time CF nurses and a specialist physiotherapist.

Dr Plant said the number of adult CF patients attending CUH was now 140 which, allied to the 100 children treated in the hospital’s paediatric department, meant that the hospital was now catering for about 25 per cent of the Republic’s CF population.

“Over the last 10-15 years, the adult CF programmes are getting larger and that reflects the fact that CF patients are living longer into adult life – in the past, the majority of CF patients were children but now 56 per cent or so are adults.

“The majority of these are still young adults in their 20s and 30s, but we have patients in their 40s, some in their 50s, a few living into the 60s and we have one patient in their 70s, and it’s these patients living with CF who the ambulatory care centre will cater for,” he explained.

The centre, which will be open from 8am to 6pm five days a week, was built in a philanthropic partnership between the HSE and local Munster CF charity, Build4Life, which raised more than €200,000, and the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland (CFAI) was also hugely supportive.

According to Dr Plant, the new unit uses the latest in air-purification technology with 12.5 changes of air per hour, a localised bactericidal emission system in each isolation room and four hours of overnight UV treatment to prevent any contamination between patients.

However, the new unit is but the first phase in a two-part strategy at CUH which will see the HSE work with Build4Life and CFAI on a second phase to develop an 11 single-room inpatient facility for more seriously ill CF patients who need hospital admission.