Medical Assessment Unit Pathway at Limerick's St John's Hospital opens
THE MEDICAL Assessment Unit (MAU) Pathway at Limerick's St John’s Hospital has opened to emergency ambulance referrals for 112/999 patients.
This initiative, managed locally by UL Hospitals Group and the National Ambulance Service (NAS), allows for stable medical patients meeting the clinical criteria to be treated at MAUs in St John's, Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals, with telephone referral from treating paramedics ensuring that the right patients are brought to MAUs.
The MAU 112/999 Pathway provides appropriate patients with treatment in hospitals closer to their homes, helps reduce attendance at emergency departments (EDs), and releases ambulances more quickly to respond to other emergency calls. Patients not meeting the clinical criteria will continue to be transported to the ED for assessment and treatment.
The extension of the 112/999 MAU Pathway to St John’s Hospital means that all three of UL Hospitals Group’s MAUs can now treat patients referred by GPs, ShannonDoc and NAS paramedics.
It is essential that unwell medical patients do not attend the MAU without a referral.
Since January of this year, a total of 119 patients have been referred to Ennis and Nenagh MAUs via the 112/999 MAU Pathway, playing in important role in ED avoidance.
MAUs are staffed by medical doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, health and social care professionals and administrative staff. The units provide diagnosis and treatment for patients referred with medical conditions including chest infections, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), pneumonia, urinary tract infections, fainting episodes, clots in the leg, anaemia or non-acute cardiac problems. In 2022, 12,737 patients were referred to the MAUs in UL Hospital Group’s three hospitals.