Tag Archives: UHL

INMO members at University Hospital Limerick have commenced a ballot for industrial action this Wednesday over the refusal of hospital management to attend talks at the Workplace Relations Commission. The INMO represents over 1,000 nurses on site who are frustrated at the approach to date by management to resolving the persistent high nurse vacancy rates and other related issues. Among nurses’ concerns are the risks to patients, overcrowding in a Covid-19 environment and excessive workloads arising due to unfilled funded nursing posts in wards, emergency department and theatres. To date management have declined to provide the INMO with the vacancy rate. Mary Fogarty INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations said: “It is imperative that these vacancies are filled prior to the opening of 96 much needed additional beds on site. However many of the wards also have historical low staffing levels and need additional nurses to cope with the demands of the Covid-19 environment. “Nurses at UHL are exhausted after …

AN Outbreak Control Team has been established at University Hospital Limerick after one patient and one member of staff on Ward 3B tested positive for Covid-19 this Tuesday ( August 19). Contact tracing and testing is currently underway and all appropriate infection prevention and control measures are being followed in line with the national HPSC guidance. A number of staff from the ward at the centre of what we believe to be a localised outbreak have been identified as contacts. They have been asked to stay off work and to self-isolate in line with national guidance.  Initial testing of all patient contacts is complete and has not identified further cases. Initial testing of all staff contacts is expected to be complete tomorrow. All patients on the ward in question have been informed of the outbreak. Noreen Spillane, Chief Operations Officer, UL Hospitals Group, said: “Hospitals have been preparing for these situations for many months and we have now established an …

UL Hospitals Group is reminding members of the public to consider all their care options before presenting to the Emergency Department at UHL today, Wednesday July 15. “In recent days, we have seen high volumes of patients attending, including many frail elderly patients requiring admission. In the 24-hour period up to 8am on July 15, a total of 215 patients attended the Emergency Department.  There were 232 attendances in the previous 24-hour period. The average number of daily attendances during 2019 was 195,” UHL said in a statement. “At 8am this morning there were 35 admitted patients in the ED waiting were a bed. In addition there were a further 23 patients in our two assessment units waiting for admission. The majority of these patients are in single rooms or assessment bays.  A total of 8 of these patients were on trolleys on corridors between these three locations. Every effort is made to ensure physical distancing is maintained and to …

AN ENNIS doctor has been appointed to a new paediatric cardiology service at UHL which is expected to improve patient access and reduce anxiety for families in the Mid West. Limerick has been designated an Area Children’s Cardiac Centre under the All-Island Congenital Heart Disease Network. The regional service has now commenced through the appointment of Ennis woman Dr Rachel Power as consultant paediatrician with a specialist interest in paediatric cardiology. Nurse specialist Georgina Purcell has also been appointed to support this significant service development. The All-Island Congenital Heart Disease All Island Network was established in March 2015 and is the first clinical network of its kind delivering world-class specialist care irrespective of borders or politics. The network manages an all-island service delivery model for congenital heart disease in children, building on existing services and drawing them together in a network of care which is patient focused and locally responsive. The establishment of Area Children’s Cardiac Centres, as part of …

UL Hospitals Group has reminded the public of the Mid-West that the ban on visiting at its six hospital sites remains in place, to help protect the safety of our staff and patients during the ongoing Covid-19 public health emergency. The visiting ban introduced in early March at Ennis Hospital, University Hospital Limerick, University Maternity Hospital Limerick, St John’s Hospital, Nenagh Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital is unaffected by the activation this week of Phase 1 in the five-phase reopening Ireland’s society and economy. “UL Hospitals Group welcomes the beginning of emergence from the restrictions of the past two months. We regret the distress or inconvenience our visiting ban causes for patients and their loved ones, but it is necessary to keep the ban in place while the risk of a second wave of Covid-19 remains present. The reasons for limiting movement within our hospitals remain as urgent as they were when the visiting ban was introduced in early March …

UL Hospitals Group is facilitating virtual hospital visits to help keep families in touch during the COVID-19 public health emergency at local hospitals including Ennis. Wide-ranging visiting restrictions were imposed across the six acute hospitals in the MidWest on March 5 as part of efforts to reduce transmission of the virus. Additional supports were introduced for patients who could no longer look forward to a morale-boosting visit from their loved ones. The Patient Advocacy and Liaison Service (PALS) has been expanded through the recruitment of new staff and the redeployment of existing staff. PALS are present in UHL St John’s, Ennis and Nenagh hospitals and have this week commenced a service in Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. “It is a time of heightened anxiety for everybody. Hospital can be a lonely experience at the best of times and the visiting ban has only aggravated that. We identified that the PALS service could respond to the new patient needs. At UHL, we facilitated …

TWO rapid build hospital extension projects are underway to respond to the Covid-19 crisis in the Midwest. Two 24-bed single room, ensuite blocks are earmarked to come on stream in July at both the main University Hospital Limerick (UHL) campus in Raheen, and on the site of Croom Orthopaedic Hospital in County Limerick. Both projects, which are part of the National Action Plan in response to the Coronavirus crisis, involve a rapid-build steel-frame system that facilitates an earlier start to construction work and a more streamlined process than would be possible with traditional builds. Certain elements of the buildings, such as en-suite bathrooms, will be made off-site and brought to the hospitals as completed pods for installation, reducing the number of truck movements to and from the hospitals during construction. According to the UL Hospitals Group (ULHG), the two facilities are permanent structures, with scope for expansion at a later stage, and are in line with ongoing strategic development plans, …

The man who passed away on Sunday, having been pulled from the water in Lahinch, was the father of Shay Moloney who drowned in a quarry close to Ennis on May 31, 2018. Fran Harding died in hospital having been taken from the water by an Irish Coastguard helicopter. He had got into difficulty while swimming. A range of rescue services attended. Mr Harding was subsequently treated at University Hospital Limerick, where he passed away.