Neurology

Welcome to SVUH Department of Neurology

The Department of Neurology in St Vincent’s University Hospital has undergone substantial change in the last few years. In a bid to reduce waiting times, the Department has reconfigured the way it functions across the board.

Since March 2006, the Neurology Team has been running two public out-patient clinics daily including procedure clinics for lumbar punctures, intravenous medication administration and counseling services on Fridays. These changes mean we now run a weekly clinic for people with established multiple sclerosis (MS), a clinic for new referrals of people with suspected MS and other inflammatory conditions, a clinic for people with Parkinson’s disease, a clinic for Dystonia and botulinum toxin administration, as well as two general neurology clinics for new referrals and two other general neurology clinics for return patients. The general clinics cater for people with headaches/migraine, epilepsy/seizures and many other conditions including Motor Neuron Disease, Huntington’s disease and people with unspecified sensory and motor symptoms.

We have also introduced a new, Consultant-led, web-based, referral service for GPs called ‘Neurolink’ in collaboration with Healthlink which has been very well received. It won the Irish Times Innovation award 2010 for its category 'Public Service Innovation'. Click here to learn more.

The Department of Neurology has won HSE innovation awards in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (click on the year to learn more).

The two Consultant Neurologists rotate every two months between the in-patient work and the out-patient work. The in-patient service has expanded to allow for designated beds on St. Vincent’s ward and we have also introduced a web based, internal referral service to expedite neurology service delivery to other teams in the hospital, particularly the Emergency Department (ED).

It is well-recognized that between 15 and 20% of all admissions through the ED have a neurological problem and, by seeing patients early, specialist neurological care can help minimise the time a person has to spend in hospital if they cannot be discharged directly from the ED to the OPD.

The Department endeavours to continually improve and we intend to introduce thrice daily clinics from September 2010. Two new Consultants will join the Neurology Department in September 2010 Dr. Christopher McGuigan and Dr. Sean O'Riordan. We are planning to expand the current outpatient service to 19 out patient clinics a week and as part of this expansion we are moving to group practice. People referred to the service will be reviewed by one of the consultants/team but not neccessarily the particular doctor that they were referred to. This is in order to facilitate shorter waiting times, improve access and to speed up the referral process.

We have worked in close collaboration with the IV Therapy Suite and have improved access for people with MS for therapies such as Tysabri. We currently manage 74 people on Tysabri.

Main Contact Details

Departmental Enquiries

Paula Halpin
Tel: (01) 277 4179
Fax: (01) 277 3506

Location

Basement of Carew House ,Next to Breast Check.

Out-patient Enquiries

Ciara Gallagher
Tel: (01) 221 3830
Fax: (01) 221 3842

Location

Main (new) building, ground floor, left hand corner after coming through main entrance.

In-patient Enquiries

St Vincent's Ward
Tel: (01) 221 4569
Fax: (01) 221 4755

MS Research Enquiries

Tel: (01) 221 4821
Fax: (01) 277 3506

MS Clinical Enquiries

Marguerite Duggan (MS Nurse Specialist)
Tel: (01) 221 4032
Fax: (01) 277 3506

Parkinson's Clinical Enquiries

Heather Kevelighan (Parkinson's Nurse Specialist)
Tel: (01) 209 4146- Please leave a message.
Fax: (01) 221 3842

Myasthenia Gravis Clinical Enquiries

Lisa Gribbin (Myasthenia Gravis Research Nurse)

Tel: (01) 2773596

Fax: (01) 2773506