Emergency Medicine
Emergency Medicine is the medical specialty concerned with caring for undifferentiated and unscheduled patients with illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention.
Open All Hours
The Emergency Department (ED) is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Patients of all age groups attend with a wide variety of medical, surgical, traumatic, toxicological and psychosocial presentations.
Our Team
Our team are responsible for initiating resuscitation and stabilization, starting investigations and interventions to diagnose and treat illnesses in the acute phase, coordinating care with specialists, and determining disposition regarding patients’ need for hospital admission, observation, or discharge.
Our team is made up of
- Doctors (Consultants in Emergency Medicine, Specialist Registrars, Middle Grades, SHOs, and Interns)
- Nursing staff (CNM3, Clinical Facilitator, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, CNM2s, and Staff Nurses)
- Ward Receptionist
- Health Care Assistants
- Clerical Staff (Receptionists, Secretaries)
- Multi Task Attendants
- Household staff
- Security Staff
Consultant Staff
Dr Kieran Cunningham (Specialty Co-ordinator)
Special interests: Paediatric Emergency Medicine, Injury Prevention
Tel: 071 913 6800
Dr Karen Harris
Special interests: Simulation Training, Critical Care
Mr Fergal Hickey
Special interests: Resuscitation, Sports and Soft Tissue Medicine
Dr Michael Sweeney
Special interests: Evidence-Based Medicine, Ultrasound
Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor Staff
8 Middle Grade Staff including:
- 2-3 Specialist Registrars from the National Advanced Specialist Training scheme in Emergency Medicine
- 5-6 Registrars
8 Senior House Officers from Core Training Schemes in Emergency Medicine, Medicine and General Practice
Sligo University Hospital is a recognized training hospital for the three year Core Specialist Training in Emergency Medicine (CSTEM) - This includes a total of 18 months Emergency Medicine, 3-month rotations in Orthopaedics and Acute Medicine, and 6-month rotations in Paediatrics and Anaesthetics/ICU.
1 Intern
Nursing Staff
Erin Lyons
Clinical Nurse Manager III
Catherine Kelly
Clinical Facilitator
Advanced Nurse Practitioners
Denise Guckian
Joan Groarke
Clinical Nurse Managers II
Trish Luby
Ann McCoy
Martina McManus
Joanne Comber
Julie McGrath
Michael McDonagh
Paddy Gallagher
Other Clinical Staff
Our service is supported by staff from other hospital departments
Physiotherapists 
Dentists
Occupational Therapists
Mental Health Liaison
Pharmacists
Radiographers
Laboratory Scientists
Social Workers
Cardiac Investigations 
Chaplaincy
Layout of the Emergency Department
The ED is divided into the following areas
- Waiting Room
- Reception
- 2 Triage Rooms
- Paediatric Area
- Paediatric Waiting Room
- 2 Paediatric Cubicles
- Ambulatory Care Area
- 2 Cubicles
- Plaster Room
- ENT/Dental Room
- Eye Room
- Main Treatment Room
- 8 Cubicles
- 2 Isolation Room
- Resuscitation Room
- 2 Resuscitation Bays
Emergency Services
Our sevice is closely allied with colleagues other Emergency Services
National Ambulance Service
Gardai
Irish Coastguard
Air Corps
Fire Service
Mountain Rescue Ireland
Community Liaison
Our service works in conjunction with community-based health services. Many of our patients are referred to us by their General Practitioners , and we communicate with GPs when their patients have attended the ED.
Our frailty team has a community outreach to follow-up on older patients who are at risk from falls.
We also have referral pathways for Community Intervention Team, for Community-based Physiotherapy, for Public Health Nurse follow-up of infants, and for community Mental Health Services.
We also have access (depending on availability) to respite and step-down beds in Community Hospitals
Specialist Nursing Support
The ED is also supported by hospital-based nurse specialists and advanced nurse practitioners in the following areas
- Frailty and Falls
- Stoma Care
- Wound Care
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Respiratory
- Neurology
- Dermatology
- Oncology
- Ophthalmic
- Haemovigilance
- Infection Control
- Resuscitation Training Officer
- Neonatal
- Palliative Care
- Discharge Coordinators
Hospital Specialists in Sligo University Hospital
The ED has access to a wide array of hospital specialists. We work closely with our colleagues in these specialties to provide the best care for our patients
- Anaesthetics, Intensive Care, and Pain Medicine
- Cardiology
- Dermatology
- Elderly Medicine
- Endocrinology
- ENT surgery
- Gastroenterology
- General Surgery
- Haematology
- Histopathology
- Internal Medicine
- Microbiology
- Neurology
- Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Oral Surgery/ Orthodontics
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Paediatrics
- Palliative Care Medicine
- Psychiatry
- Radiology (including Interventional Radiology)
- Renal Medicine
- Respiratory Medicine
- Rheumatology
- Urology
Access to other Specialties
Other specialists are available in other hospitals in Ireland. We transfer patients when required to Regional or National Centers.
- Plastic Surgery – Galway University Hospital, Galway
- Interventional Cardiology – Galway University Hospital, Galway
- Maxillofacial Surgery – Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry
- Neurosurgery – Beaumont Hospital, Dublin and Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Dublin
- Interventional Neuroradiology – Beaumont Hospital, Dublin
- Vascular Surgery – Galway University Hospital, Galway
- Hyperbaric Medicine – Cork University Hospital, Cork
- Cardiothoracic Surgery – Galway University Hospital, Galway
- Spinal Surgery – Mater Hospital, Dublin
- Complex Burns – St James’s Hospital, Dublin
- Complex Paediatrics or Paediatric Surgery – Crumlin Children’s Hospital or Temple St Children’s Hospital
