UL Hospitals Group is urging members of the public to consider all available care options before attending the Emergency Department (ED) at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), which continues to manage an exceptionally high level of emergency presentations and admissions this week.
UHL continues to work to its Escalation Plan, which includes additional ward rounds, accelerating discharges and identifying patients for transfer to our Model 2 hospitals. However, current demand for our services is multi-faceted. High numbers of admitted patients require a level of care that, for the Mid-West, can only be provided at UHL. In general, patients currently admitted to UHL are sicker and with more complicated conditions, and require longer inpatient stays to recover.
A UL Hospitals Group spokesperson said: “We remind members of the public to consider all their care options before presenting to the department. Injury units in Ennis and Nenagh are open from 8am to 8pm, and St John’s is open from 8am to 7pm.
Injury Units are for the treatment of broken bones, dislocations, sprains strains, wounds, scalds and minor burns. More information on our Injury Units is available here. Anyone with less serious illness or conditions should contact their GPs or out-of-hours GP services. However, if you are seriously injured or ill or are worried your life is at risk the ED will assess and treat you as a priority.
We apologise to any patient who has experienced a long wait for admission to UHL during this period of exceptionally high demand for our services.”