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Our History
What is now known as The Octagonal Theatres found in the Pillar Centre can be seen as a main Operating Theatre 2.Courtesy of MMUH Archive
The Facade of Mater Hospital. Courtesy of MMUH Archive
What is now known as The Octagonal Theatres found in the Pillar Centre can be seen as a main Operating Theatre 2.Courtesy of MMUH Archive
NCHDS Postgrad Historical Timeline
The Mater Hospital is the designated national centre for: Cardiac Surgery; Heart and Lung Transplantation; Spinal Injuries Centre; Pulmonary Hypertension; Extra Corporeal Life Support; the National Isolation Unit, and Bone Anchored Hearing Aid implantation.
All of this is reflected in the great strides the hospital has made and continues to make in providing excellent care and patient services, as well as high-quality medical and surgical education in association with the largest university in Ireland, University College Dublin.
The recent awarding of the Mater as a Major Trauma Centre (MTC) for the national Central region is a huge endorsement of the unique culture that exists in the Mater which has underpinned our innovative approach to develop and deliver the most acute care nationally.
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The ethos of the Hospital is focused on compassion, dignity, and kindness as well as excellence, accountability and professionalism. These are all integral to all that our staff does for the benefit of our patients, their families and for each other.
Quote from Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland
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“The foundations of the Mater Hospital are not bricks and mortar but values – enduring, unchanging values summarised in the word love...a love expressed in compassion, concern, selflessness and care.” – 21 Jan 2011
OUR CLINICAL "FIRSTS" in
the mater
1865 – Dr Francis Cruise (later Sir) performed some of the world’s first endoscopic treatments at the Mater using his own endoscope modified from an earlier 1850’s model.
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1866 - First Hospital in Ireland open 24 hours in response to a cholera epidemic that year in the city
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1888 - First full-time Pathologist in a hospital in Ireland, Dr (later Prof) Edmund McWeeney
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1889 - First time surgical removal of spithelioma from lip in Ireland
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1890 - First dedicated Bacteriological laboratory in a hospital in Ireland
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1907 - First ‘Medical electrician’ (Radiologist) Dr Maurice Hayes in Dublin Hospitals
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1920 - First dedicated Biochemical Laboratory for diagnosis and treatment of metabolic diseases in an Irish hospital
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1923 - First use of insulin to treat diabetes in Ireland by Prof. Henry Moore
1937 - First Clinical Biochemist in an Irish hospital
1965 - First cardiac mitral and aortic valve replacement in an Irish hospital
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1978 - A Medical Data System Trinary Computer was installed, the first such computer in the British Isles (Nuclear Medicine)
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1979 - Ireland’s first photon beam absorptiometer presented to the Mater by Charles Haughey
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1985 - First cardiac transplant in Ireland
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1993 - National Spinal Injuries Unit (in St Agnes’ Orthopaedic Ward) officially opened
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2005 - First artificial cardiac implantation in Ireland
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2005 - First lung transplant in Ireland
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2005 - National Transplant Centre for Heart and Lung established in the Mater
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2007 - First double lung transplant in Ireland
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2008 - National Isolation Unit officially opened by Minister for Health Mary Hearney TD in Dec
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2015 - First heart and lung transplant in Ireland performed at the Mater
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2017 - European Stroke Organisation Certification awarded to Mater Stroke Service, first in Ireland
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2017 - First Pulmonary Hypertension Advanced Nurse Practitioner appointed in Ireland commenced training
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The mater hospital
"FIRSTS"
24th September 1861 - Mater Hospital opens its doors
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November 1861 - First intake of 25 Resident Pupils begins medical education in the Mater
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1878 - First medical ‘specialist’ (Obstetric Physician) Thomas More Madden
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1888 - First cases of plastic surgery in the Mater
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1890 - One of the first Irish hospitals to use Prof. Robert Koch’s “Lymph” treatment for tuberculosis & lupus
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1890 - Mater treated the first patient diagnosed with lupus in Ireland, Bridget Boland, 20, Galway; she was the first case to use Prof. Robert Koch’s “Lymph” treatment in the Mater
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1891 - School of Nursing opened
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1893 - Surgeon Charles Coppinger performed the first ligature of the innominate artery for an aneurysm in the Mater with success (also credited as the first instance in Europe in some sources)
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1894 - First dedicated Anaesthetist appointed, Dr. Michael O’Sullivan
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1894 - First recorded use of Nitrous Oxide as anaesthetic in theatre – 26th Nov 1894
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1906 - First purpose built Radiology Dept. in the Mater
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1952 - First cardiac surgery performed (mitral valvotomy) in the Mater
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1956 - School of Physiotherapy opened
1961 - First open-heart surgery in the Mater by Prof Eoin O’Malley (with Mr Sean Heffernan, Mr William Hederman and Anaesthetist Dr Alexander Blayney)
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1976 - First dedicated cardiac intensive care unit opened
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1981 - McGivney Wing opened
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1982 - Postgraduate Medical Education centre opened at 52 Eccles Street
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1982 - 603 open heart surgery cases were performed in the hospital during the year
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1982 - 603 open heart surgery cases performed in the hospital during the year
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1993 - Infectious Diseases Unit commissioned when Dr Gerard Sheehan commenced work; ward unit opened (Jan 1994)
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2006 - New Centre for Nurse Education opened
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2011 - Mater’s 150th Celebration
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2012 - Whitty Wing opened
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2015 - First Bone Anchor Hearing Aid implanted in the Mater
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2016 - 100th HIPEC (Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy) performed
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2016 - Colorectal robotic surgery programme commenced
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2017 - Next Generation Sequencing (NSG) Lab opened
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2019 - Major Robotic surgery research project alongside IBM as part of the Disruptive
Technologies grant to investigate luminescence in colorectal cancer cells