St. Luke's General Hospital

St. Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny
Health Service Executive
Geography
Location	Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland
Organisation
Care system	Carlow-Kilkenny Acute Hospitals
Hospital type	General
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	285
History
Founded	1942

St. Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny (also known as Carlow/Kilkenny General Hospital and Kilkenny District Hospital) (Irish: Ospidéal Ginearálta Naomh Lúcás, Cill Chainnigh) is a public^[1] hospital located in Kilkenny, Ireland.^[2] Founded in 1942, it is managed by the Irish Government's Health Service Executive and provides acute hospital services, including a 24-hour emergency department, for the population of County Kilkenny, County Carlow, and part of County Tipperary. In 2008, the hospital served 51,804 out-patients, 15,957 in-patients, and 9,260 day cases, with an average stay of 5.2 nights. In 2007, there were 33,590 accident and emergency department presentations. 71.9% of all admissions were made via the emergency department. The hospital saw 2,193 live births in 2008.

Patient care

Services

The hospital provides 285 beds, of which 228 are in-patient acute beds, while 12 are reserved for day cases. A further 45 beds are designated for in-patient psychiatric care. In-patient services include general medicine, general surgery, geriatrics, accident and emergency, endocrinology, palliative care, coronary care, oncology, rheumatology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, psychiatry, and day surgery.^[2]

Hygiene

Independent audits rated hygiene levels as 76% or "fair" in 2005,^[3] rising to 89% or "good" in 2006.^[4] Hospital-acquired infection affected 1.8% of patients in 2007, with a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection rate of 0.11 per 1,000 bed days.^[2]

Waiting lists^[5]

Adult

• adult surgical patients waiting 3–6 months: 87
• adult surgical patients waiting 6–12 months: 41
• adult surgical patients waiting over 12 months: 8
• adult medical patients waiting 3–6 months: 2
• adult medical patients waiting 6–12 months: 0
• adult medical patients waiting over 12 months:0

Paediatric

• child surgical patients waiting 3–6 months: 0
• child surgical patients waiting 6–12 months: 0
• child surgical patients waiting over 12 months: 0
• child medical patients waiting 3–6 months:0
• child medical patients waiting 6–12 months:0
• child medical patients waiting over 12 months: 0

Staff

In 2007, the hospital employed over 880 staff, including: 91 doctors, 399 nurses, 60 health and social care professionals, 115 administrators, 193 general support staff, and 23 other patient/client care workers.

References