A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Limerick hospital has worst absenteeism rates
THE LATEST Healthstat report has found that a Limerick hospital, St John's, has the worst absenteeism rate in the State.
The HSE internal reporting system just published found that for the month of October last, the hospital’s absenteeism rate was under 8 per cent. The figures show that the nursing sector had the highest amount of absentees on a percentage basis with over 10 per cent of its 114 nurses calling in sick when rostered to work in October.
Absenteeism rates among the hospital’s “health and social care professionals” totalled just under 10 per cent. The Healthstat evaluated 31 hospitals across the State and the figures show that following St John’s Hospital, Cavan General Hospital; Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise; Midlands Regional Hospital at Mullingar and Naas General Hospital were the other hospitals to feature in the bottom five in terms of the worst absenteeism rates.
St John’s Hospital is an acute general public voluntary hospital funded by the HSE and is a registered charity. The hospital has a total of 103 beds – 93 in-patient beds and 10 day care beds. According to the Healthstat report, the hospital has 288 full-time employees.
Last night, a spokesman for St John’s said “the absence rate recorded in the October Healthstat report represents a snap shot in time”. He said, “St John’s Hospital confirms that its staff sickness absence rate for the month of October 2011 was approximately 7 per cent,” but pointed out that “the hospital’s absence rates for the months of November and December 2011 are less than 5 per cent.
GORDON DEEGAN
Supermarket offers discount wheelchairs
THE DEPARTMENT of Health may be able to save itself a few euro this week although it will need to act with uncharacteristic haste as the special offer wheelchairs which are currently selling in Aldi for less than €200 are likely to be gone by Friday, writes Conor Pope.
While the German discounter is beloved among some shoppers for its ever-changing and eclectic range of special offers, including blowtorches and jack hammers, the wheelchair it is offering this week for €179.99 has caused some raised eyebrows.
It is not however the first time a major retailer has entered the mobility space. In 2009 the British supermarket chain Asda began selling wheelchairs and walking frames at heavily discounted prices while in Australia last year Aldi sold wheelchairs as part of its special offers.
Aldi told The Irish Timesthat it was the first time it had sold foldable wheelchairs in Ireland and it said it was doing so "following a strong response from customers to previous healthcare- related offers". It said it was part of "a wider range of heavily discounted products designed to assist customers, as well as their families or carers, with mobility issues".
Active children better in classroom
CHILDREN WHO get more exercise also tend to do better in school, whether the exercise comes as recess, physical education classes or getting exercise on the way to school, according to an international study. When researchers at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam asked students how much time they spent exercising, they found that those with higher rates of physical activity did better in the classroom. The study is published in the Archives of Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine.