Tag Archives: University Hospital Limerick

CLARE patients are facing inordinate waiting times for public hospital treatment as 97 patients are without a bed in University Hospital Limerick on Tuesday, the highest number recorded in any Irish hospital since records began. The INMO has once again called on the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to investigate the overcrowding issue at the hospital. Mary Fogarty, INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations said the current trolley numbers in University Hospital Limerick are extremely concerning. “Time and time again, University Hospital Limerick is the most overcrowded hospital in Ireland. “Despite major investment in capacity at the hospital, it is making no dent in the consistent overcrowding problem in the hospital. Overcrowding adds stress for staff and worsens patient care. It is high-risk in normal times, but even more so during a pandemic.” “The INMO is once again calling on HIQA to urgently investigate the overcrowding issue in the hospital and make recommendations. “The patients and nurses at University …

    The majority of scheduled public surgery and outpatient appointments in the Mid-West will be deferred next Tuesday due to an increase in staff absences . The UL Hospitals’ Group has confirmed Covid-19 related staff absences are resulting in significant disruption to services. This has resulted in the deferral of most of scheduled surgery and outpatient appointments across all hospital sites from Tuesday, January 4 until Friday, January 7. This includes University Hospital Limerick, Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, St John’s Hospital, and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. Services at University Maternity Hospital Limerick are unaffected. All impacted patients are being contacted directly by the hospital.   As the group experience a significant surge in Covid-19 activity across society, it anticipates that an increase in staff absences will have a significant impact on services over the coming weeks. There are currently 392 staff off work and self-isolating having either tested positive for Covid-19, been designated as a close contact or have been …

A nursing union has called for the curtailment of elective treatments in University Hospital Limerick to reduce the expected spike in overcrowding in the Emergency Department over the coming weeks.   The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called on the HSE to publish and implement a Plan B for dealing with the capacity crisis that is escalating within the public acute hospital system. The INMO has requested all activity except urgent emergency care to be curtailed in the public hospital system. INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha expressed concern about the high numbers of patients presenting to Emergency Departments across the country. “From experience we know that if there are 287 patients for whom there is no bed in a hospital on December 30th, we know that figure will be tripled in early January. It is time now to scale back all activity within our public hospital system to emergency activity only. “Our public health service is too small …

FEARS have been expressed about the impact of the “never-ending” overcrowding problem in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after 83 patients were left waiting for beds on Tuesday. HSE West Forum member, Cillian Murphy has called for an examination of ways to reduce the number of patients being admitted to the ED in UHL, and to speed up the discharge of treated patients in a safe manner. “From conversations with ambulance crews it seems the ED is the default response for emergencies,” the FF member noted. “This may only have a marginal impact on trolleys but we have to look at other ways to treat people such as care in the community. “At some point someone is going to have to say this isn’t good enough any more. Despite all the extra resources that are being fired into the health system, we still doesn’t seem to be able to cope with what is landing on the doorstep in UHL,” said Councillor …

A SENIOR intensive care clinician has warned health services are on a “war time” footing due to increasing cases of Covid-19. The head of the intensive care unit at University Hospital Limerick, Dr Catherine Motherway, has also stated some healthcare services will have to shut down, if Covid-19 figures continue to rise. Her warning came before official figures revealed the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Mid-West totalled 5,381 from November 9 to November 22. There were 1,361 new cases of the virus in Clare, 1,975 in Tipperary and 2,045 in Limerick during this 14-day period. The 14-day incidence for November 22 is 1,145 in Clare 1,237 in Tipperary and 1,049 in Limerick per 100,000 population. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier this week, Dr Motherway said that healthcare staff are “stretched and operating on a day-to-day basis” and noted that patients may not receive the same level of care as they would “in peace time”. She also revealed …

  The Mid-Western Cancer Information and Support Centre at University Hospital Limerick resumed face-to-face on-site appointments on a half-day basis on Monday for the first time since March 2020.   A wide range of face-to-face supports, which had been curtailed during the pandemic, including counselling and relaxation therapies, will now be available Monday to Friday, from 9am-1pm, with safety precautions in place for the protection of all patients and staff.   Dr Denis O’Keeffe, Consultant Haematologist and Director of Cancer Services for UL Hospitals’ Group, said the partial re-opening of the Mid-West Cancer Support Centre was long-awaited and very welcome, enabling the provision of important support and holistic non-clinical therapies for patients and their loved ones.   “In making this partial re-opening, we are, of course, keenly aware of the concerns and risks due to the continued high community transmission of Covid-19. We are proceeding on a half-day, Monday to Friday basis, and will watch the situation closely over the …

CLARE people with diabetes will participate in a public demonstration organised by the Mid-West Diabetes Group to highlight the lack of services next Sunday on World Diabetes Day at 1pm outside University Hospital Limerick. Gráinne Flynn, from Ennis, who has lived with diabetes for 28 years, uses an insulin pump and manages her diabetes on the principles of Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE). “I have to travel an hour, to an hour and a half, to my clinic appointments because the diabetes clinic that’s just a 30-minute drive away doesn’t have enough staff with specialist training in either of those tools.” It is of utmost concern to people with diabetes that one year after seeking national funding, the University Hospitals’ Group still cannot fill positions in the outpatient adult diabetes clinic and therefore cannot provide specialist Type One diabetes education or offer insulin pump technology to prevent developing long-lasting complications such as amputation, kidney dialysis or vision loss. The …

HIGH levels of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), the cancellation of outpatients appointments, and spiralling waiting lists have been described as akin to watching a “car crash in slow motion”. As UHL struggles to deal with an increase in Covid-19 patients and a dramatic increase in ED admissions, a senior government minister has admitted the pandemic record of 91 patients on trolleys in the hospital on October 12 was unacceptable. UHL had the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country on Tuesday with 47, and had the second highest number of suspected cases of the virus with 42. Seven confirmed cases were in ICU, while there was only one available ICU bed on Tuesday. In an interview with The Clare Champion, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the health service is dealing with an extraordinary global pandemic, which has put a lot of pressure and strain on hospitals. “This is going to have a knock-on impact on …