The UL Hospitals Group says expanded Medical Assessment Services are making a significant and positive impact on delivering timely care to patients referred by their GP for urgent medical attention.
Last April, a 5.2 million euro investment led to extended MAU services at St John’s and Nenagh Hospitals and securing the already extended MAU at Ennis.
Since April, total referrals by GPs to all three units in the year so far has almost surpassed the full-year referral total for 2022.
The latest available data confirms that by mid-October, GPs across the region had referred a total of 12,087 patients to MAUs via the Bed Bureau at University Hospital Limerick since the beginning of the year.
The numbers of patients seen in all three units for all of 2022 totalled 12,683.
The most significant increase in referrals has been at Nenagh Hospital, where referrals so far this year, totalling 3,287, are exceeding the numbers referred in all of 2022 by 33%.
MAUs are not a walk-in service, but the UL Hospitals Group says the gains are significant for patient access, and for GPs who regard the units as a lifeline in the management of more complex general practice cases.
