Tag Archives: UHL overcrowding

HEALTH Minister Stephen Donnelly will be asked by An Taoiseach Micheál Martin to set up an independent inquiry into chronic overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after two record-breaking days of trolley numbers, writes Dan Danaher. Surging admissions, which resulted in 97 patients languishing on trolleys in UHL on Tuesday and 111 on Wednesday, have prompted calls for an independent inquiry into overcrowding. Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, Deputy Michael McNamara said the new 96-bed unit will only deliver 48 additional beds as the remaining new beds will replace existing ones. (See Champion story here) “I would accept that any amount of new beds isn’t going to meet the exponential growth in numbers on trolleys in UHL. I don’t know is there a problem with the way admission and discharge is done in the hospital, or one of the other hospitals in the group needs to be upgraded to a Model Three hospital.” I have called for an independent …

CONCERN has been expressed by a local Dáil deputy the new 96-bed block approved for University Hospital Limerick (UHL) will only deliver 48 additional new beds for public patients in the region, writes Dan Danaher. UHL is in the process of tendering for the development of a new four-story 96 single bed acute inpatient ward block extension at their main campus. Tenders are due to be returned by the end of the month. In addition to securing full planning permission, UL Hospitals’ Group chief executive officer, Colette Cowan stated it is anticipated the works contract will be awarded in the second quarter of this year, subject to HSE Board approval and funding availability. “It is envisaged that when the new 96-bed block opens, about half of the beds will be used to replace older bed stock on the UHL site,” she stated in response to a Dáil question tabled by Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne. “This stems from a long-identified need to …