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Cath lab at UHW temporarily out of order

Cath lab at UHW temporarily out of order

The cath lab at University Hospital Waterford is currently unable to carry out interventional cardiology procedures due to a problem with lab equipment.

Patients who need emergency treatment will have to be transferred to Cork or Dublin until the problem is fixed.

The mobile lab is operational, however it can only deal with diagnostics and not stenting procedures or Primary PCI services.

In a statement the South South West hospital group said:

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"University Hospital Waterford can confirm that the Cardiac Cath lab is unable to provide services for Primary PCI or stenting procedures at present.  All the necessary arrangements for the treatment of patients requiring emergency treatment have been made and these patients will be diverted as per normal arrangements for out of hours services.

A number of diagnostic procedures have continued to be carried out in the Cath lab. The mobile cath lab continues to operate.
 It is expected that the required replacement equipment will be on site in University Hospital Waterford on Thursday morning.  

Following installation and the appropriate checks we expect it to be fully operational by Friday morning."

Waiting Lists

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The waiting list for interventional cardiac work at University Hospital Waterford has gone through the roof, according to Waterford Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane.

He has welcomed the fact that the mobile lab has brought down the testing element of the work that's done but says those who have been diagnosed have now gone onto a waiting list for intervention work:

"About 30 patients a day are being seen and diagnosed in the mobile lab, the problem is if any of those patients need treatment they go on the wait list in the permanent lab and can only be seen and treated in the permanent lab. So again what that proves is that we actually need a second permanent lab in University Hospital Waterford."

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