The first patients have started moving into a new state of the art €35 million Critical Care Unit at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle, Limerick.

The development of the unit is a major step forward in the development of acute hospital services across the Mid West and follows on radical improvements in the provision of emergency care, diagnostics, surgery and medicine.

The acute hospitals in the region, i.e. the Mid Western Regional, Dooradoyle, the Regional Maternity, Ennis Rd, Nenagh Hospital, St John's Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, now work as a single hospital system with common governance, management and clinical direction across the sites.

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The new CCU, built by Sisks, is one of the largest public capital projects in the state. Construction started in August of 2010 and was completed ahead of time.

Ms Ann Doherty, chief executive of the Mid Western Regional Hospitals Group, said: "This project is a key element of the development of health services in the Midwest. It will provide essential critical and high dependency care for patients and address safety concerns raised by HIQA, and other external reviews, of acute health care in the region."

The development, which links with the existing hospital, consists of a six storey block over two levels of basement car parking. A new 12 bed intensive care unit will be located on the first floor along with supporting accommodation. The second floor will provide a new 14 bed high dependency unit while the third floor will provide a new 16 bed coronary care unit.

(CD)