ONE of the country’s highest profile doctors during the pandemic is retiring this week.
Intensive care consultant, Dr Catherine Motherway who headed up the ICU at University Hospital Limerick will retire from her post at the end of this week, The Clare Echo understands. She was appointed as a consultant in anaesthesia at UHL in 1999 and was also the clinical lead in organ donation.
Dr Motherway had been a vocal medical advocate during the COVID-19 pandemic, painting a sobering picture on RTÉ’s Prime Time in the early stages of the “significant problem” facing the country due to the “limited amount” of ICU beds nationwide as she urged the Irish public to “ treat each other like pariahs” to avoid a repeat of the Italian surge occurring in Ireland.
She qualified from University College Cork in 1985. Dr Motherway completed her training in anaesthesia in Ireland in 1996. She subsequently completed over two years training in Intensive Care Medicines in Australia and became a Fellow of the Faculty of Intensive Care as it then was in Australia. She is a past Chair of the National Training Committee of the College of Anaesthetists and was previously the Treasurer of the Intensive Care Society of Ireland.
Catherine was named as Limerick Person of the Year for 2020. CEO of UL Hospitals Group, Colette Cowan described Dr Motherway as “an amazing clinician whose practical guidance helped us all through the pandemic”.