Tag Archives: UHL

SIGNIFICANT reductions in elective surgery and outpatient diagnostics will continue in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) over the next month after record high Emergency Department attendances resulted in “dangerous conditions” for patient and staff safety. The UL Hospitals’ Group has admitted planned reductions in scheduled care will continue over the Christmas and New Year period as the group concentrate on inpatients as well as emergency and time-critical care after the busiest weekend ever recorded in the hospital. Responding to Clare Champion queries about the impact of the unprecedented demand on public hospital services, the group outlined work in their operating theatres will be focused on emergency and trauma patients until January 16. It also warned anyone attending the ED with a less than urgent condition is going to face an “exceptionally long wait for treatment” as UHL struggled to cope with 92 patients on trolleys on Monday, 94 on Tuesday and 88 on Wednesday. The INMO has confirmed UHL is the …

Record high attendances at the Emergency Department (ED) in University Hospital Limerick in recent days have led management to cancel all but the most urgent elective surgery and outpatient diagnostics at the hospital this Monday. The unprecedented level of ED attendance is driven by a surge in patients with respiratory infections, including COVID-19, flu and RSV, and significant numbers of people with trauma injuries resulting from slips and trips on the ice over recent days. Yesterday saw 221 people attending the ED, and 251 on Saturday: the busiest weekend ever recorded at the hospital. This morning’s decision, taken in line with our Escalation Plan, includes the redeployment of medical staff to the ED, and the transfer of appropriate trauma patients to Croom Orthopaedic Hospital for treatment. A spokesperson for UL Hospitals Group said, “We have been directly contacting all patients with surgery or diagnostics appointments scheduled for today, and these appointments will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity. We apologise …

HOSPITAL campaigners have claimed there is no major improvement for patients attending the Emergency Department in University Hospital Limerick (UHL), despite the HSE’s “expert intervention”. Clare members of the Mid-West Hospital Campaign participated in a protest outside Ennis Hospital on Monday to highlight the crisis in ED unit. Similar demonstrations also took place in Navan, Drogheda, Cavan, Mullingar, Limerick and Nenagh. The protesters read out some of the recent survey responses from the public following the initiative undertaken by the Mid-West Hospital Campaign. Group member, Noeleen Moran told the Clare Champion they decided to go ahead with this protest, despite subzero temperatures because there is no progress being made to address the crisis at UHL. “The Petitions Committee has not received a response from the Department of Health yet in relation to the group’s petition calling for the upgrading of casualty facilities in the region. “The HSE’s response wasn’t even aware that the Deloitte report was already published and stated …

A County Clare man has claimed the UL Hospitals Group hasn’t prepared for the cold weather after his “frozen” 86-year-old father, who has dementia, was forced to wear his coat in an old ward at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). After spending almost three days on a trolley, the elderly man was transferred to a Ward 4 C in the old part of UHL on Saturday of December 3 at 11pm. “My father, who has dementia had to wear his coat in a hospital bed during the cold weather. Because my father is elderly, he feels the cold more than other people. He doesn’t have blankets, he only has a sheet and a blue cover. You need about ten blue covers to equal one blanket.” The man, who has opted to remain anonymous for family reasons, recalled when he visited his father the next day, he found he was “frozen”. After discovering the two radiators close to his father’s bed were …

IN A bid to direct the people of the Mid-West to the most appropriate treatment this winter, the HSE is distributing a leaflet in local newspapers including The Clare Champion this week. With the region’s main hospital, UHL, under continuous pressure and increases in both COVID-19 and Influenza infections anticipated to create a significant surge in admissions, UL Hospitals Group (ULHG) and HSE Mid West Community Healthcare are promoting the new HSE information leaflet to guide people through the various treatment options available locally this winter. Complementing the online guide to local health services at bit.ly/MyHealthMidwest, the leaflet outlines routine and urgent healthcare services for everything from coughs and headaches up to emergency life-threatening conditions and injuries, providing the phone and online contact details. The leaflet highlights such useful HSE website resources as the Health A To Z – a comprehensive guide to almost 400 individual conditions that has details of treatments for each, and contact information for accessing care …

ONE person has been airlifted to hospital while three children were transported by road ambulance following a traffic collision in West Clare this morning. Gardaí have confirmed that the main N67 Kilrush to Kilkee road will remain closed for a number of hours following the crash. The incident, involving a car and a van, occurred at the junction at Lisdeen Church at around 9.30am. Emergency services were quickly alerted. National Ambulance Service paramedics and Gardaí responded to the incident along with fire crews from Kilkee and Kilrush stations. The Cork-based charity-funded Irish Community Air Ambulance was also requested to attend the scene. Fire crews had to use specialist equipment to cut the roof off the car so they could safely access and remove the injured driver. Once assessed and stabilised, paramedics and fire crews carried the casualty to the helicopter. The woman was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick for treatment. Three young children, who were travelling in the car, were …

THE increasing pressure on the Emergency Department at the University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has resulted in longer triage times for patients, which poses a “clinical risk”, a new report has warned. The Deloitte Report on patient flow and overcrowding at UHL expressed concern about the 7% increase in ED attendances between 2019 and 2022, a growth rate far in excess of demographic growth. This demand demonstrates an increasing reliance on acute hospital care and is associated with an increase in self-referrals to the ED as capacity constraints in primary care and particularly within general practice continue. Acknowledging the chronic lack of adequate bed capacity in the region, this new study recommends an additional 302 inpatient beds required by 2036 to meet current unmet demand, future demand and to replace outdated infrastructure in multi-occupancy nightingale wards. It proposed the provision of additional 63 day beds by 2036, and stressed additional medical consultant, non-consultant hospital doctors and nursing staff in the Emergency …

UL Hospitals Group, Chief Executive Officer, Professor Colette Cowan has apologised to every patient that has experienced excessive wait times or a poor care environment in UHL. Professor Cowan made the apology during a three-hour discussion between senior officials in the UL Hospitals Group, national HSE officials and Mid-West Oireachtas representatives during a joint Health Committee meeting in Dublin on Wednesday. Responding to Deputy Maurice Quinlivan’s question about what management was doing to relieve chronic waiting times in the UHL emergency department, shr said, “We don’t feel comfortable about patients waiting for treatment in the ED, but it is a capacity issue. “We have looked at developments in our community and are developing the Enhanced Community Care Programme, which will create alternatives for elderly people, apart from the ED. “UHL is a very busy hospital. All our patients tell us the care is good, the difficulty is getting through the ED door. We need another second 96-bed block, which would …