Taoiseach Officially Opens Ireland’s National Pelvic Floor Health Centre at St Michael’s Hospital, Dun Laoghaire
18th December 2024
Taoiseach Officially Opens Ireland’s National Pelvic Floor Health Centre at St Michael’s Hospital, Dun Laoghaire
Dedicated multidisciplinary care is delivering improved outcomes for patients
Monday, 16th December 2024: Taoiseach Simon Harris, TD today officially opened Ireland’s National Pelvic Floor Health Centre at St Michael’s Hospital, Dun Laoghaire. The new Centre provides a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to addressing the needs of patients with complex pelvic floor dysfunction. It facilitates rapid diagnosis with state-of-the-art diagnostic technology in a dedicated clinical setting, improving the patient experience and enabling enhanced patient outcomes.
Pelvic floor dysfunction is a global term used to describe conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse, bladder or bowel incontinence, obstructive defaecation disorder or dyspareunia. A condition affecting primarily women – an estimated 23 per cent of women suffering from some form of pelvic floor disorder in their lifetime – but also men, pelvic health issues can severely affect a person’s quality of life and be a symptom of more serious underlying conditions. The disorders tend not to be isolated, in over 70% of cases patients have 2 or more symptoms requiring multidisciplinary input.
Taoiseach Simon Harris, said: “Improving health outcomes for patients is a priority for me.
“This new dedicated centre provides an innovative approach, establishing new treatment pathways that have a significant impact on treatment and waiting times for people with pelvic floor dysfunction. I congratulate everyone involved in delivering this dedicated patient centred service which is having a profound impact on the lives of the people attending the service.”
Sharon Ryan, CEO, St Michael’s Hospital (SMH) said; “The establishment of a dedicated National Pelvic Floor Health Centre is a significant advancement for the assessment and treatment of people with pelvic floor dysfunction. The development of this dedicated unit enables greater integration of the multi-disciplinary team and allows patients to meet all their treating clinicians in one location.
“We have expanded the specialist team and the impact is clearly seen with a reduction in waiting times of 12 months achieved for some patients. We are also able to treat more patients – in 2022 the number of attendances in the Pelvic Floor Service was 683, a 152% increase on 2021 (271 attendances). The dedicated pelvic health physiotherapy service can now provide an average of 56 appointments per week up from an average of 12 appointments per week over the period from 2013 – 2022.”
The Pelvic Floor Centre is Ireland’s first and only multidisciplinary clinic for the assessment and management of pelvic floor dysfunction. The multidisciplinary team includes internationally trained sub-specialist colorectal surgeons and urogynecologists who work as a team, supported by specialist physiotherapists and clinical nurse specialists.
The Centre is a collaborative, inter-hospital approach by St Michael’s Hospital, St Vincent’s University Hospital and The National Maternity Hospital. The Centre’s innovative approach, establishing new treatment pathways that are consultant led but run by nursing or physiotherapist services has had a significant impact both on treatment waiting times and in the number of patients being seen each week.
Funding for the new National Pelvic Floor Health Centre at St Michael’s Hospital has been provided by the HSE’s National Women’s and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP)and the Department of Health. The dedicated building comprises four clinical rooms, a waiting area and administration support space. Including revenue this represents a total investment of over €1 million in the delivery of excellent patient care to people with pelvic health issues.
