Tag Archives: Limerick hospital

Members of the public to consider all their care options before presenting to the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick. The hospital is currently managing high volumes of patients, including a surge in flu cases and significant volumes of frail elderly patients with chronic conditions and complex care needs. The 266 patients who attended the ED on Monday, February 19th was the highest ever recorded for a single day. The pattern has continued all week, averaging at over 200 attendances per day. On Monday, February 12, there were 12 flu cases admitted across the Group. Today (Friday) the number of patients with flu being accommodated across the Group stands at 26. UL Hospitals Group can confirm that at 8am on today, there were 47 admitted patients in the ED at UHL. This included patients who were being accommodated in some of the 49 single rooms/designated bays within the new department. It included, for example, 13 patients who were appropriately isolated …

IRELAND’S largest and most advanced emergency department has opened today (Monday) at University Hospital Limerick. A €24 million project spans 3,850 square metres of floor space, over three times the size of the old department. In 2016, UHL had the busiest emergency department in the country, with over 64,000 attendances. Almost 100 additional staff have been recruited to work in the emergency department, which has increased capacity for patients and has been designed with the input of senior clinicians to improve patient flow, reduce patient experience times (PET) and improve outcomes for the sickest patients. The new emergency department features the most advanced diagnostic equipment of any such facility in Ireland or the UK, including a c. €1 million, 128-slice CT scanner which is mounted on a track to minimise the movement of the sickest patients in resuscitation. The facility is separated into different pods and zones, allowing for paediatric patients, major cases, minor cases etc to be treated separately, …

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients can now look forward to “gold standard” testing equipment, previously only available at international specialist centres. All proceeds from the Truck Run 4 Katie fundraising event have been used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Unit in the Leben Building at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). Katie Drennan, who died in February 2015 aged 24, tirelessly campaigned for better services for CF patients in UHL. The Truck Run 4 Katie, which was held in her memory last September, raised more than €120,000. Respiratory consultant Dr Brian Casserly said the new equipment means the hospital is now “operating at an international standard, above and beyond national standards for the treatment of CF patients”. “University Hospital Limerick wants to be the leading light in terms of CF and this is one step in that direction,” he added. CF patients attending UHL can now avail of equipment that provides direct measurement for exercise tolerance and capacity. Previously, …

IRELAND’S first ever National Patient Experience Survey, which began on Monday and continues until the end of the month, affords adult acute hospital inpatients a chance to describe their experiences and suggest improvements. UL Hospitals Group is part of this joint initiative between the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the HSE and the Department of Health. During May, adult patients who are discharged from a public acute hospital during this month are being invited to participate in the survey. Up to 27,000 patients nationally will be eligible to take part making this the largest single survey of the healthcare system in Ireland. In excess of 2,000 of these patients will be asked to describe their experiences in University Hospital Limerick, Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, St John’s Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. Maternal health and paediatric services do not come under the ambit of the current survey. Patients will be asked 61 questions on topics such as confidence and trust …

PATIENTS should be more speedily able to obtain diagnostic procedures thanks to the provision of a Euro CAT scanner in the new emergency department at University of Limerick (UHL). The CAT scanner, which is the biggest of its kind in the UK or Ireland, will help minimise delays for patients and spare them the inconvenience of trips to and from the radiology department. The scanner will be mounted on a track which means it can be moved between rooms in the emergency department, allowing for imaging of the most seriously ill patients without the requirement to transfer to the radiology department. Currently being commissioned by Siemens, the scanner will result in much faster diagnostics and provide a greater capacity to diagnose sick patients. UL Hospitals’ Group CEO, Colette Cowan, admitted that patients waiting to access CT or MRI scans would often wait a number of days due to sheer demand on existing resources. Acknowledging a second MRI scanner is needed …

VISITOR restrictions remain in force at University Hospital Limerick this Tuesday and every precaution is being taken in the context of the current high incidence of flu in the Mid-West. Nationally, the influenza-like illness (ILI) consultation rate per 100,000 of the population has increased steadily since January of this year. And the ILI consultation rate per 100,000 in the MidWest was double the national rate for the week ending February 7. This is being reflected in the hospital population and UHL can confirm that it currently has 19 confirmed and four suspected cases of influenza A.Every precaution is being taken in this busy flu season and management and staff are working with their community colleagues to monitor, treat and contain instances of flu-like illness. To ensure that we are able to protect vulnerable patients, UL Hospitals Group are asking people who are considering visiting a friend or relative at UHL to ensure they do not visit if they have flu-like …

Consultant paediatrician, Dr Michael J Mahony, who headed up CF services in the Mid West for the past two decades, said the prospects for children with the disease has improved enormously since they day he arrived in Limerick. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that primarily affects the lungs and digestive system of about 1,200 children and adults in Ireland – the highest CF incidence of any country in the world. When Dr Mahony started out in Limerick in 1992, the CF population in the region stood at about 30 children and 10 adults. By the early 2000s, it had grown to around 90 children and 40 adults, with the numbers having since levelled off. “Over the time I have been here, we have seen huge improvement in survival and in quality of life. The big difference is that CF now is no longer strictly a children’s disease but increasingly a condition of young adults. “We have not quite …

Regular transfers of nurses from Ennis Hospital to cover staffing shortages at University Hospital Limerick has heightened fears about future downgrading. HSE Forum West chairman, Councillor Tom McNamara, has registered his concern about why nurses who are rostered for duty in Ennis Hospital are being requested to report for duty at UHL on an ongoing basis. At a forum meeting in Galway on Tuesday, he said, “This is giving out the wrong message about Ennis Hospital. Clare people are worried that Ennis Hospital is being downgraded by the fact that staff are being moved out of the hospital to deal with a situation in UHL. “The HSE needs to deal its staffing shortage in UHL as quickly as possible. I know that it is not easy to get additional staff but the go-ahead has been given for more recruitment,” he said. While Councillor McNamara acknowledged there is a lack of staff at UHL, he claimed it is creating the wrong …