Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital today announced the opening of a state of the art new Coronary Care Unit.

The new Unit occupies the top floor of the new building that includes the new Emergency Department, which opened in June.

The total construction cost of the entire new building in Drogheda was in the region of €24 million and the cost of equipping the new Coronary Care Unit was €1.2 million euro.

This forms an important part of the overall plan for development of acute hospital services in the Northeast.

In 2009, in excess of 377 patients were treated in the CCU in OLOLH. The expanded unit will allow for enhancement of cardiology services and will meet the increased demand created by the reorganisation of acute hospital services in the Northeast.

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The CCU is central to the provision of high quality care to acutely ill cardiac patients suffering from conditions including myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndromes, arrhythmia and heart failure.

Emergency cardiac procedures such as pacemaker insertion can also be performed in an x-ray equipped cardiac procedure room that is part of the unit.

The CCU has eight fully equipped suites for individual patient occupancy with en-suite facilities. In addition, there are five rooms for step down patients requiring less intensive care. The new Unit is approximately 1,150 square metres in size and signifies a major increase over the existing department. All CCU beds are served by a suspended pendant that is the latest in hospital technology.

Each room has a sliding glass door to allow maximum patient visibility from a central nursing station. All infection control guidelines have been complied with in the design of the new unit.

This expansion will facilitate provision of an enhanced service for cardiac patients in the northeast.

It builds on the recent appointment of a second cardiologist to the hospital and will be followed by rollout of a 24/7 primary angioplasty service in the near future.

Complimenting the work of the hospital staff, Margaret Swords, Group General Manager, outlined that cardiac services at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital are provided by a highly experienced multidisciplinary team comprising medical staff, nursing staff, allied health professionals and support staff.

(GK/BMcC)