Limerick hospital trolleys at a high

CLARE TD, Timmy Dooley, has expressed outrage at the lack of progress being made on A&E waiting times at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, which currently has the highest number of patients waiting on trolleys in the country.

“I am listening to harrowing stories week in week out from Clare patients who have been deeply traumatised by prolonged waiting times in cramped and overcrowded conditions at the acute hospital with no end in sight. We are now told that it will be 2016 before the new A&E facility will be opened to the public.

“The facilities are poor but it should be possible with appropriate funding to increase the throughput of A&E, without this increase in funding the new facility to be opened in 2016 will not resolve the crisis.

“The CEO and staff are doing an outstanding job given the resources available to them and if it wasn’t for their dedication and hard work, the situation would be a lot worse.”