Nursing courses record points increases at Dundalk IT

Nursing courses were the only subjects to see point increases at Dundalk IT in the first round of CAO offers published this morning.

The course that requires the highest number of points in the college is Midwifery, which increased from 400 to 415 points. General Nursing at the College also increased from 400 to 405 points, while Psychiatric Nursing went from 375 to 385.

The only other course to record a points increase was Health and Physical Activity, which went from 365 to 375.

The majority of courses remained unchanged although there were point drops recorded for Computing in Games Development (300 from 367), Applied Music (460 from 500) and Social Care (315 from 350).

In terms of the higher certificate/ordinary bachelor degree courses, Business and Management increased from 105 points to 160 points, while Civil Engineering went from 100 to 125 points and Hospitality Management from 240 to 265.

There were also sizeable increases in the points required for Sport Exercise and Enterprise (275 to 335 points) and Pharmaceutical Science (285 to 333).

The largest faller was Applied Bioscience, which went from 325 to 215, while there were also falls recorded for Culinary Arts, Hospitality Studies and Agriculture.

Former Dundalk IT head of nursing appointed new Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health

 

Dr Siobhan O’Halloran

Dr Siobhan O’Halloran has been appointed as Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health.

Dr O’Halloran is the former Head of the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Health Studies and Applied Science at Dundalk IT, where she was based from 2004-2006.

Dr O’Halloran’s new job will be ensuring that the role of nursing and midwifery is represented at the highest level in terms of policy making for the health service.

Future of St Joseph’s Hospital secured with €750,000 investment

St Joseph’s Hospital in Ardee

St Joseph’s Hospital in Ardee is set for a €750,000 injection that will see the long-stay residential unit upgraded to 20 beds.

The news of the funding also secures the future of the hospital, with rumours circulating for a number of years now that the HSE were set to close it as part of a cost-saving process.

The investment, announced today by the Minister for Health Dr James Reilly TD and the HSE, will allow for the development of a sheltered housing/retirement village complex, which will be progressed with additional stakeholders.

Local Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick was one of the first to welcome the news of the funding.

He said: “Not only will these renovations enable the hospital to meet the HIQA standard 25 by 2015, but it means that patients residing there will be living in of state-of-the-art accommodation with world-class facilities.

“None of this could have been achieved without the support of hospital staff and management who have implemented cost saving measures to run the unit more cost effectively.

“This is an important day for St. Joseph’s and for the many people who have worked so hard to ensure that the nursing unit remains open and that there is minimal disruption to patients residing there,” said Deputy Fitzpatrick.