New maternity hospital for mid west

Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group and former Director of Nursing at Nenagh Hospital, has welcomed today's announcement that a new maternity hospital for North Tipperary, Limerick and Clare is to be built at UHL.

'It is fantastic news for the mothers and babies of the region and something we have been working towards for some time,' Ms Cowan stated.

'A site alongside University Hospital Limerick has been identified and work has already commenced on the design, which should help move the project along expeditiously.
 
'For over 50 years now, the mothers and babies of Limerick and the Mid-West have been well served by University Maternity Hospital Limerick and the excellent staff there, past and present. Well over 200,000 babies have been born there since the hospital opened in 1960.

'But the time has long since come to move on,' Ms Cowan said. 'The fact is that the hospital was not built to deal with the current number of births. UMHL is one of the busiest maternity hospitals in the country and as of the end of July 2015, it had experienced a 5.7% increase in the number of births year-on-year, the largest increase of any maternity hospital in the country. That the building is 55 years old has also presented numerous environmental challenges for management and staff and we look forward to moving to a new state-of-the-art complex.
 
'Most importantly, the move to a new hospital will provide the mothers and babies of the region with the care and comfort they deserve at such an important time in life. The need to have maternity hospitals co-located alongside major acute hospitals is well established and we can’t wait to complete the move.'
 
Ms Cowan added that no decision has been made on the future of the Ennis Road site at this time.