{"id":338364,"date":"2026-03-10T07:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T07:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/338364\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T07:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T07:31:15","slug":"i-knew-in-my-heart-id-recover-better-where-the-kids-were-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/338364\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I knew in my heart I\u2019d recover better where the kids were\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

After spending nearly 12 nights in hospital, Kevina O\u2019Rourke readily admits she was driving her consultant \u201cdemented\u201d with questions about when she could go home.<\/p>\n

\u201cMentally, I wasn\u2019t doing great. I got really upset and I just wanted to be at home with my children.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she had left Max, then aged 11, and Sadie (6) at home in Rathnew, Co Wicklow<\/a>, last November, she expected to be away just two or three nights, for the removal of a kidney stone in St Vincent\u2019s University Hospital<\/a> in Dublin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But O\u2019Rourke (39) had been warned that surgery to remove the 2.5cm stone, which was encased in a 5cm cyst in her left kidney, was more complex than the norm. The size of the stone and unknown nature of the cyst meant a percutaneous nephrolithotomy procedure was required.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where they puncture in through my back, puncture straight into the kidney, and they break it all down at source and remove it,\u201d she explains. On Friday, November 7th last, this was completed successfully, under Prof Barry McGuire, within about three hours in theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was when they woke me up in recovery, I knew something wasn\u2019t right. I was in fairly extreme pain and I kept saying I feel like something is wrong with my lung.\u201d<\/p>\n

An X-ray done in the recovery room showed her left lung had partially collapsed.<\/p>\n

Although O\u2019Rourke\u2019s post-op recollections are hazy, she says it took more than four hours for her to be stabilised and the pain brought under control before she could be moved to the urology ward. \u201cI know my blood pressure was extremely low, my heart rate was extremely high, my temperature was spiking and there was just a lot of people around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her lung fully collapsed on the Saturday, causing the left side of her chest cavity to fill with fluid and restrict her breathing. She praises the ward nurses who \u201cdid phenomenal work to keep me out of the ICU that weekend\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"KevinaKevina O\u2019Rourke at her home in Rathnew, Wicklow: she was sent home with an iPad, a blood pressure monitor, an oxygen monitor and a thermometer to use for online check-ins to the virtual ward. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

The head of ICU visited her at one stage to reassure her they were all prepared if she did deteriorate and that he would be the first face she would see if transferred there. \u201cAt that stage, then I just was like, \u2018Please, don\u2019t let me die\u2019. It was a very scary weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

A chest drain had to be inserted on the Sunday. \u201cIn total, just under four litres of fluid were drained from my chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the Monday, she began to pick up. \u201cOnce I was on the right antibiotics and I had the chest drain, I actually started to recover quite quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short walks were possible from the Tuesday, as her strength started to return. <\/p>\n

However, a significant bleed and a lot of pain made night 10 in the hospital a bad one. Yet, she was still pushing to be discharged, although she was on intravenous antibiotics and being told she was still too unwell. \u201cI just kept on saying, I promise I\u2019ll recover quicker if you just let me go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her children had only been able to visit her four times. Two of those visits were kept to 10 minutes, during which \u201cI was trying to pretend I was okay for a short enough period of time for them to see me and leave\u201d, she says. \u201cMy six-year-old had never been away from me and she was really distressed every time she came in.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The chatbot will see you now: is this the future of Irish medicine?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Her son was old enough to worry about why he was being told his mother was fine, yet still in hospital.<\/p>\n

Coming up to a fortnight there, O\u2019Rourke\u2019s medical team offered her the option of going home on the virtual ward. She would be given equipment to monitor herself three times a day, digitally transmitting results to the virtual ward staff, who would be available to her 24\/7. They would liaise with her care team in the urology ward, where she would remain classed as an inpatient and her progress reviewed daily by a consultant.<\/p>\n

The concept was new to her, but she jumped at the opportunity to be back with her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just knew in my heart that I would recover better at home where the kids were. They didn\u2019t have to be near; they just needed to be in the same house as me. And that I\u2019d have my own bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her one worry was what would happen if she had another bad bleed?<\/p>\n

She was given an A4 \u201cpatient onboarding\u201d sheet summarising her hospital treatment and advised, if she became unwell, to ring for an ambulance and hand it to the paramedics, who would then know who to contact in transit. This would ensure the urology ward would be ready for her and she would be brought straight back in without having to go through the emergency department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat alone was just such a huge comfort to me,\u201d says O\u2019Rourke, who was one of the first surgical patients in Ireland to benefit from a virtual ward. The expansion of St Vincent\u2019s virtual ward to include suitable urology patients is being officially launched this week, to mark World Kidney Day on Thursday, March 12th.<\/p>\n

The Dublin 4 hospital was one of two sites, along with University Hospital Limerick, to pioneer the HSE national virtual ward programme, which began in July 2024<\/a>. Each started with 25 virtual beds and then increased to 40-bed capacity over time.<\/p>\n

\"HSE'sHSE’s Damien McCallion: ‘5,080 patients have benefitted; those patients transferred to the virtual ward and those patients utilising the vacated in-hospital bed.’ Photograph: Orla Murray\/Coalesce <\/p>\n

Since the introduction of virtual wards, 2,540 patients have been safely supported in their home, freeing up more than 23,727 physical bed days for patients who require more traditional care, according to Damien McCallion, HSE chief technology and transformation officer and deputy CEO. \u201cThis means that 5,080 patients have benefited; those patients transferred to the virtual ward and those patients utilising the vacated in-hospital bed.\u201d <\/p>\n

More hospitals have become involved over the past year, with virtual ward pilot sites now operating in each of the six health regions. These include Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda in Co Louth; Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore in Co Offaly; Mercy University Hospital in Cork and St Luke\u2019s General General Hospital Carlow Kilkenny, with Galway University Hospital\u2019s virtual ward admitting its first patient in February. <\/p>\n

Patient feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, he adds. \u201cNinety-eight per cent of patients said they felt safe under virtual ward care\u200b and 96 per cent of patients said they prefer the virtual ward to an inpatient hospital stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

At St Vincent\u2019s in Dublin, more than 1,300 patients across various medical specialities have been cared for virtually so far, delivering the equivalent of more than 12,400 bed days saved. Now the hospital\u2019s urology department is the first surgical speciality in the country to start using virtual care.<\/p>\n

\"ConsultantConsultant urologist Aisling Looney on virtual wards: ‘We have quite strict and sensible selection criteria as to what patients are suitable.’ <\/p>\n

The initial phase, starting last September, has been an enormous success, according to consultant urologist Aisling Looney. She says they have not seen any downsides yet and believes patients feel very supported, particularly as there is \u201ca very clear pathway as to how they can re-enter the hospital system if required. But for us at a consultant level, it\u2019s all about safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virtual ward patients continue to be under consultant oversight, she points out. Their name remains on the urology ward list and they are reviewed during daily, consultant-led rounds. \u201cWe have quite strict and sensible selection criteria as to what patients are suitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

That decision is made jointly between consultants and senior nursing staff. \u201cBut even if you look at it from overall hospital safety, rather than just the virtual ward patient safety, it also improves the other patients\u2019 access to our clinical environment. We do some of the most complex reconstructive benign and cancer urology surgery in the country, so our level of nursing care on the ward is really very specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n

When patients leave the hospital building to be cared for on the virtual ward, \u201cit means that there is a bed on our high-acuity surgical ward to manage other patients. So overall, it\u2019s improving safety and access to specialist care, which is really wonderful for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virtual wards also fit in with enhanced recovery after surgery protocols, which surgical specialities have been using in the hospital for years. \u201cIt\u2019s all evidence-based information,\u201d says Looney. \u201cThings like nutrition, sleep, their psychological health and early rehabilitation \u2013 and a lot of that is best delivered at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

People want to eat their own food; they sleep better in their own bed and they have psychological support from family at home. \u201cWhat\u2019s really important, of course, is infection prevention. If you decrease a patient\u2019s length of stay physically in the hospital environment, you\u2019re going to decrease their rate of surgical site infection.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will also reduce their risk of developing hospital-acquired pneumonia, or contamination with a hospital bug.<\/p>\n

A virtual ward patient must be able to take responsibility for their self-care and be capable of communicating any concerns, she adds. They would, preferably, have somebody at home with them too.<\/p>\n

Kevina O\u2019Rourke was emotional returning home on November 25th last, coincidentally her husband Shane\u2019s birthday. Over the next few days he continued to get the children up and out to school before work, while her mother moved in to help out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from the bed to the sofa and the sofa back to bed. And that\u2019s all I was allowed to do because I still had an internal stent.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had been given an iPad, a blood pressure monitor, an oxygen monitor and a thermometer to use for online check-ins to the virtual ward, with the first being completed under supervision before she left the hospital. She was rung if any of the readings were untoward. For example, on one occasion, she was asked to measure her blood pressure again because, if it continued to be that low, she would have to go back in.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s often not right\u2019: Dr AI unlikely to replace GPs any time soonOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

O\u2019Rourke, who spent nine days on the virtual ward before being discharged from St Vincent\u2019s, is a \u201chuge fan\u201d of this innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a mother, all I wanted was to be at home with my children. It afforded me those nine days that otherwise would have seen me sit in the hospital. As much as I\u2019d like to say, \u2018Oh, I would have discharged myself\u2019, I\u2019m not silly, I wouldn\u2019t have. I would have stayed in the hospital for those nine days if they [had] asked me to.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it was, Sadie suffered separation anxiety for several months after her mother\u2019s hospitalisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, I said I\u2019ll be back in two to three days and I disappeared for two weeks. So I was very grateful,\u201d says O\u2019Rourke, \u201cthat those two weeks didn\u2019t turn into the guts of four\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After spending nearly 12 nights in hospital, Kevina O\u2019Rourke readily admits she was driving her consultant \u201cdemented\u201d with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,2120,61,60,101589],"class_list":["post-338364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-st-vincent-s-university-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}