Saolta Annual Report 2015

The Saolta University Health Care Group published its 2015 Annual Report this week. The report provides details on the range and scale of services provided by the hospitals in the Group: University Hospital Galway, Merlin Park University Hospital, Portiuncula University Hospital, Roscommon University Hospital, Mayo University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital and Letterkenny University Hospital.

Commenting on the report, Saolta Group CEO Maurice Power, said “The publication of the 2015 annual report, highlights the excellent work which takes place every day across our seven hospital sites. Our staff continued to deliver safe, high quality patient care throughout 2015 despite increased demand for services and resources.  Demand for our services continues to increase each year and 2015 was no different.  287,416 patients received either inpatient or day case treatments in our hospitals in 2015. We treated 113,017 inpatients– 1.6 % more than the previous year and 174,399 patients were treated on a day case basis – over 4% more than the previous year. There were 191,651attendances at the five Emergency Departments and 5,118  patients attended the Urgent Care Centre at Roscommon University Hospital which was an increase of 10% on the previous year. Our Outpatients Department saw 586,829 patients and across the five maternity units there were 9,574 births, down by 2% on the previous year.

A national initiative to improve access to hospitals took place toward the end of 2015 and the progress made by the Group to reduce the numbers of patients waiting for hospital appointments and the length of time they were waiting in outlined in this report. Action plans were put in place across each hospital which included measures such as waiting list validation, moving activity to those hospitals where there was scope to see more patients, putting in place additional clinics facilitated by both health and social care professionals and nursing staff, in-sourcing and out-sourcing. The Saolta Group’s inpatient waiting list increased by 18% in 2015 and by December 2015, the Group achieved 95% of the target of treating those patients waiting greater than 15 months”.

Commenting on the report, Dr John Killeen, Chair of the Board of the Saolta University Health Care Group said, “Throughout 2015 the Board of the Saolta Group continued its focus on the development of corporate governance best practice for the Group. The members of the Saolta Board provide strong regional representation for the geographical area that the Group’s hospitals serve. There were 10 Board meeting in 2015, two of which were held in public. As with other years Board meetings were rotated across the Group hospitals which provided Board members with the opportunity to meet staff at each hospital site. We look forward to other positive developments across the Saolta Group over the next year. We will continue to develop partnerships with centres of excellence such as the Lambe Institute for Translational Research, the Health Research Board Clinical Research facility and other external and voluntary health providers. On behalf of the Board, I wish to acknowledge the hard work, commitment and professionalism of all the staff who work in the Saolta Group who strive every day to provide the best quality care for our patients”.

A copy of the Annual Report is available to downoad here