The Medical Centre at Maginn Avenue Buncrana won an award at the Irish Healthcare Awards 2019 alongside Dr Seamus Clarke’s GP surgery in Clones, Co Monaghan and the National Ambulance Service.
The centre was involved in a pilot project in association with the National Ambulance Service and Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT), a cross border health and social care partnership.
The project is piloting the introduction of community paramedics to reduce the need for patients to be transferred from the community to hospital. Paramedics are trained by the ambulance service and at Maginn medical centre to be able to assess and treat selected patients in the community – thus avoiding the need for transfer to hospital and saving valuable ambulance and hospital time. This project also prevents some vulnerable patients from having to endure long delays at ED departments.
The project was selected as the winner of the Sustainable Healthcare Project of the Year 2019 at the Irish Healthcare Awards. Dr Paul Grant received the award on behalf of the centre at a gala presentation in the Ballsbridge Hotel Dublin.
The Buncrana Medical Centre was delighted to be involved in this ground breaking project and are pleased to continue developing this project in conjunction with the national ambulance service. Two new paramedics have recently joined the team at Buncrana Medical Centre and the team are looking forward to further improving the development of healthcare in the region.