Annual Report 2010 - St. James's Hospital

Clinical Directorates I CResT
The Respiratory Assessment Unit
The Respiratory Assessment Unit (RAU) continued to provide
a comprehensive service to patients with non-malignant lung
diseases in 2010. While the staff maintained provision of
established programmes, areas of service development for
2010 include:
• Two community pulmonary rehabilitation programme run
jointly with PCCC colleagues
In line with the Respiratory Medicine’s departmental
commitment to research the team’s research program
continued with a poster presentation at ERS in Barcelona,
one oral presentation and three poster presentations at ITS
in Cork, winner of best nursing poster presentation at ITS
2010, runner up prize for best poster presentation at NCNM
2010 Dublin & the organisation of National COPD Conference
October 2010.
• Long Term Oxygen Therapy (LTOT) follow up home visits
• Capacity development of supportive care programme for
patients with advanced disease including direct referral
to Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services through the
establishment of formal links between the services
• There was an increase in patients seen in the Clinical
Physiotherapy Specialist clinic (35%), Clinical Nurse
Specialist clinic (24), LTOT clinic (26%) and Mantoux
clinic (46%) compared to 2009
• Initiation of a Pneumovax vaccine clinic
• RAU services information leafl ets were developed in
order to highlight the unit’s activities to GPs, hospital
staff and patients
TB Program
The TB service at St. James’s Hospital was established
in 2004 upon the closure of the TB services in Peamount
Hospital. Since 2004 an interim service has been in
operation pending the construction of a dedicated clinical
Tuberculosis National Unit. The TB multi-disciplinary team
treat inpatients and outpatients. The number of patients
treated with TB remained unchanged in 2010. The service
has access to 3 protected isolation rooms in Hospital 5
Unit 2 for infectious patients.
The directorate team continue to work with the CEO to
improve the service for patients with TB. The provision of
the specialised TB unit will improve the services available to
patients and impact on national TB outcomes. The directorate
is looking forward to the next stages of the planning and
commissioning process.
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