Tag Archives: University Hospital Limerick

A NEWMARKET-on-Fergus man has described his life transformation as “amazing” following the receipt of a second kidney transplant. On November 23, Eoghan O’Neill (38) received a second kidney transplant from his brother, Hugh in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. Receiving a transplant in the midst of a Covid-19 pandemic is a lot more difficult for dialysis patients. Eoghan explained Covid-19 delayed the transplant operation by three or four months, before it was finally completed. “Doctors want to get you out of the hospital as quickly as possible because of Covid-19. I stayed in Beaumont for just seven days, which is the main danger period after an operation.” Once he came home, Eoghan, who works in property management in Limerick, was strictly monitored and had blood tests in University Hospital Limerick twice a week. He admitted resuming dialysis for a second time wasn’t easy and is very grateful to his brother for giving him a new lease of life. “I received my transplant …

PATIENTS are being discharged from a new 60-bed block unit at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) without adequate planning for step down supports, a local deputy has claimed. Deputy Cathal Crowe is calling on the HSE to ensure that an official discharge co-ordinator is put in place for the new 60-bed block. At present, the role is not filled for the €19.5 million modular unit at UHL, which began taking patients in late 2020 and hospital management have no plans to appoint a new person to this post. “I have been raising the issue of a lack of a discharge co-ordinator for this block both in the Oireachtas Health Committee and with Colette Cowan, CEO of the UL Hospitals’ Group,” said Deputy Crowe. “Several families of patients and workers in the system have been in contact with me highlighting the fact that where a patient is being discharged, there’s very little in terms of stepdown planning for having supports in place …

AS the 14-day incidence of Covid-19 continues to fall in Clare, the UL Hospitals’ Group has confirmed it has treated 1,241 confirmed cases over a one-year period. According to figures produced by the National Disease Surveillance Centre, there were 533 cases recorded in Limerick, 167 in Clare and 306 in Tipperary from February 16 to March 1. However, the number of Covid-19 cases in the Mid-West dropped from February 23 to March 8, with 401 cases recorded in Limerick, 215 in Tipperary and 129 in Clare. The 14-day incidence in Limerick fell from fourth to sixth highest in the country at 205%, compared to Tipperary, which is 14th highest on 134% and Clare is the 15th highest on 108% recently. The national 14-day incidence of the disease was 161% at the time. One year since the first Covid-19-related admission to University Hospital Limerick, the group has confirmed 64 patients required admission to ICU over a 12-month period. Group chief executive, …

THE UL Hospitals’ Group has defended its management of administering vaccines against Covid-19 following concern over the disparity in distribution among hospital groups. Senator Martin Conway said certain questions remained unanswered in view of statements made by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on this issue. He said it looks as if the national vaccination group approached all the hospital groups and asked them how many they needed to vaccinate and the micro management of the roll out was managed by the individual hospital group. “Why did Ennis Hospital receive vaccines initially and Nenagh Hospital didn’t? Why didn’t the mental health nurses get it? “How did the South West Hospital Group administer 19,000 and the UL Hospitals’ Group only 3,400 in the same period of time? “The group needs to supply details how many vaccines it requested in the first round and outline in chronological order step by step what engagement they had with the national immunisation task force and what number …

THE capacity situation in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) remains “precarious”, despite a reduction in the 14-day incidence of Covid-19 throughout the Mid-West. The UL Hospitals’ Group has pleaded with Clare people to continue following public health guidelines as the acuity of patients remains high, with their critical care surge plan activated and a significant number of patients on inpatient wards who require respiratory support. The group has also warned even when Covid-19 patients are delisted, they require a significantly longer hospital stay for support and rehabilitation compared to non Covid-19 patients. This come as official statistics show the 14-day incidence of the virus in the Banner has fallen from 536% last week to 322% this week, which is now the fifth lowest in the country. Interestingly, the 14-day incidence rate in Tipperary at 553% is now higher than Clare but is much lower than Limerick, which stands at 853%. According to figures produced by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, there …

CLARE people have been asked to continue strictly adhering to public health guidelines combating the spread of Covid-19, despite a major drop in the 14-day incidence of the virus throughout the Mid-West. This come as official statistics show the 14-day incidence of the virus in the Banner has fallen recently from 1,386% to 536%. Interestingly, the 14-day incidence rate in Tipperary at 559% is now higher than Clare, but is much lower than Limerick, which stands at 781%. According to figures produced by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, there were 1,647 new cases of Covid-19 in Clare, 3,325 in Limerick and 1,558 in Tipperary from January 12 to January 25. The five-day moving average from January 21 to 25 is 62 in Limerick, 25 in Clare and 44 in Tipperary. The Department of Public Health Mid-West and HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare are urging people in the Mid-West to not get distracted by the gradual decrease in Covid-19 cases, and to …

FULL time carers and people with disabilities should be vaccinated as soon as possible, according to Councillor Ann Norton. Councillor Norton has called on the government to follow the example of the United Kingdom by prioritising carers and family members they are looking after for the vaccine against Covid-19. As a parent and full time carer, the Independent Councillor wrote to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, Tanáiste Leo Varadkar and An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin about the need to prioritise carers as part of the national vaccination programme and was very disappointed with the lack of any serious engagement. She received a standard acknowledgement from Minister Donnelly’s secretary, an automatic response from Deputy Varadkar and no response from the Taoiseach. Councillor Norton, who cares for her daughter, Nicole, (23) said it was time for the government to recognise carers were saving the state huge sums of money by keeping children and adults out of long stay residential facilities. “Full time carers are …

HOSPITAL waiting lists look set to increase significantly again following the cancellation of the majority of scheduled surgery and outpatient appointments in public acute facilities amid concern from a local senator Covid-19 is spreading in Clare like “wildfire”. UL Hospitals’ Group has confirmed the deferral, until further notice, of the majority of scheduled surgery and outpatient appointments across the group. This includes University Hospital Limerick, Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, St John’s Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. University Maternity Hospital Limerick is unaffected by the reductions. The number of Clare and Mid-West public in-patient and day case waiting lists soared from 4,198 in January 2020 to 6,612 last November, while the numbers on outpatients’ lists jumped dramatically from 47,134 to 55,088 during the same period. There has been an increase of almost 3,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Mid-West from December 19 to January 3. According to official statistics, the number of positive cases in Clare jumped from 1,546 to 2,135; …