St Vincent's Hospital, Athy () is a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

located in

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kil ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

History

Athy

workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

was established on the site under the

Irish Poor Laws The Irish poor laws were a series of acts of Parliament intended to address social instability due to widespread and persistent poverty in Ireland. While some legislation had been introduced by the pre-Union Parliament of Ireland prior to the A ...

; it opened on 9 January 1844, just before the Great Famine. The

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

arrived as nursing sisters in 1873. In 1898, it became a County Home. 268 residents were transferred to the new St Vincent's Hospital on 3 April 1969.

Services

At present St Vincent's primarily provides

geriatric Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on addressing the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατρός ''iatros'' mean ...

care, including a residential care centre and day-care facilities for

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

patients. It is monitored by the

Health Information and Quality Authority The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA, ; ) is a statutory, government-funded agency in Ireland which monitors the safety and quality of the healthcare and social care systems. Mooted as early as 2001, HIQA received its powers and man ...

(HIQA).

References

{{Irish hospitals

Hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

Buildings and structures in County Kildare Hospitals in County Kildare Hospital buildings completed in 1969 Hospitals established in 1969 1969 establishments in Ireland Health Service Executive hospitals 20th-century architecture in the Republic of Ireland