by Margaret O’Brien

The Galway Clinic, which opened its doors in June 2004, has gone on to become a hospital that is trusted and valued by those who have used its facilities and those living within its catchment area.

The Galway Clinic was developed to provide the community with access to medical and nursing care. One of its main aims is to improve cancer care services in the west of Ireland.

“We are proud to have introduced a range of services to the west of Ireland including radiotherapy, open heart surgery, PET/CT Imaging, Robotic assisted surgery, eye laser surgery, and gynaecological cancer services,” said a spokesman. In recent years the Galway Clinic has bucked the trend by continuing to invest, develop and expand.

“We opened two new inpatient floors, comprising 46 beds and an out-patient chemotherapy unit in December 2009. This brought the Galway Clinic to 146 inpatient beds and eight in the ICU. The new floors were fully occupied immediately,” said the spokesman.

“In 2010 we opened a interventional theatre. The hybrid theatre is the first of its kind in the world, as it combines the latest imaging technology from Philips healthcare with a laminar airflow system.”

He confirmed that 2011 was extremely busy, with occupancy at 91 per cent.

“We will commence building a multi-storey care park this month and we are expanding our day care and laboratory departments in the second-half of this year. We are also exploring the addition of a whole new inpatient accommodation wing, comprising of approximately 60 single rooms and a new 20 bed ICU.”

The expansion programme, which is in response to the increase in demand for beds, represents a significant investment in the region of €40 million.

Other recent developments include the commission of a digital mammography unit, and the Clinic has now established direct cover with the VHI and Quinn for the provision of mammograms to their subscribers.

In line with one of its key original aims, the Galway Clinic continues to invest in the provision of cancer care and is particularly well positioned with regard to the provision of treatment for prostate cancer, as it provides robotic-assisted surgery, IMRT and image-guided radiotherapy, chemotherapy and brachytherapy. As it stands the Galway Clinic is the only hospital in Ireland offering all available treatments for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The Galway Clinic has 146 beds, 36 consultant suites, six operating theatres, two day surgery theatres, an A&E unit, chest pain unit and same day surgery unit.

By providing greater access to acute and secondary care services, minimising waiting lists in the region, and creating an environment that attracts and retains the highest calibre health care professionals, the Galway Clinic continues to improve and support health care in the West of Ireland.

“We continue to work closely with University Hospital Galway, and we hope that we can continue to build relationships and work closely with the public system, to provide a model of collaboration that the rest of the country can follow,” said the spokesman

For more information, visit galwayclinic.com

Patrick Brennan
Director of Corporate Business
Irish Health Insurance

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