Weekend cardiac care commencement decision for Waterford to be made this week
The meeting to make the decision has been delayed until the end of this week.
The recent delay in deciding the date for the commencement of weekend cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford has been blamed on Storm Éowyn, and Waterford News & Star can exclusively report the decision is now due to be made by the end of this week.
University Hospital Waterford completed the recruitment stage for weekend cardiac coverage and was due to announce a commencement date for the 7-day service in the week ending January 26.
A spokesperson for UHW has confirmed to Waterford News & Star that the meeting to finalise the date of commencement for the service was delayed due to the weather conditions caused by Storm Éowyn.
The meeting was postponed until the end of this week.
Emergency cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford is currently limited in operation to weekdays, excluding bank holidays. UHW has two catheterisation laboratories which operate from 8am to 8pm, and 8am to 6pm, respectively.
University Hospital Waterford received approval to begin recruitment to enable the operation of the emergency cardiac service 7 days per week from 8am to 8pm, in September last year, but faced recruitment challenges. The last update from the service was in November, saying that recruitment was "underway.”
However, in a statement to Waterford News & Star, a spokesperson for the Health Service Executive revealed that UHW had completed the recruitment for the weekend service in mid-January.
"University Hospital Waterford has completed their recruitment in the last 7 days with a commencement date for the 7-day service to be agreed this week [ending January 26] based on start dates from the recently recruited members of the team."
You can read a deep dive with the full story here
If you have been affected by the limited hours of cardiac coverage at UHW, your voice matters. You can get in touch at hugh.dooley@waterford-news.com. All insights and tips will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.
