Immediate emergency action needs to be taken to address the ongoing overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Limerick, according to Clare Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe.
Deputy Crowe made the remarks after the HSE Mid-West acknowledged that unprecedented summer overcrowding at the Dooradoyle facility is due to “a long-standing structural mismatch between patient demand and available capacity”.
According to Deputy Crowe: “It is absolutely no secret that the experiment to develop a ‘Centre of Excellence’ at University Hospital Limerick has failed and UHL simply cannot cope with the patient numbers which are attending.
“There were 130 patients waiting on trolleys in UHL on Tuesday this week and this is totally unacceptable. We have unfortunately grown too used to seeing these numbers occurring during winter illness spikes, but it is unimaginable that such a high number of people are awaiting beds in the height of summer.
“These are not just numbers reported in the media. These are patients from all over the Mid-West who have travelled to UHL in search of urgent medical care and who are facing long A&E admission wait times and cannot even get access to a bed once admitted.
The people of Clare and the wider Mid-West cannot be asked to continue to accept this sub-standard of healthcare for that much longer and emergency interim action is needed immediately.
The Friends of Ennis Hospital Group have proposed a National Enhanced Urgent Care Centre Pilot Programme delivered at Ennis Hospital and Roscommon University Hospitals which I think has strong merit for urgent consideration.”
“The FEH plan includes the urgent progression of the planned 48 bed unit at Ennis Hospital to support the delivery of the pilot programme which would follow widely used internationally practices to provide treatment for a broader range of urgent injuries and illnesses than traditional Local Injury Units while avoiding unnecessary attendance at a full Emergency Department.
“The proposal would improve access to care, reduce pressure on UHL and support the Slaintecare objectives, and would provide evidence for future national service planning. It would complement existing ED services by ensuring patients receive the right care, in the right place at the right time all while preserving specialist emergency capacity for those who need it most.
“It is ideas like this which need to be urgently explored to give the people of Clare and the wider Mid-West region the level of healthcare that they have a right to.
“The Minister for Health recently admitted that people in the Mid-West have waited too long for improvements to their healthcare offering and she needs to follow this up with urgent action to resolve the long-standing disparity of care.
“The dogs on the street know that the current system is not fit for purpose and while promises of devolvement and additional bed capacity are welcome, the proposed developments are simply too far away for the people of this region.
“I have today written to the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill expressing my alarm at the overcrowding levels and to implore her and her officials to explore every avenue to establish emergency interim measures which can be implemented until the planned beds and devolvement of services becomes reality.
“Included in this consideration must be the immediate allocation of resources to develop the healthcare offering at Ennis Hospital. I am also renewing my calls for an air ambulance base in Clare, such as a consultant-led Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) based out of Shannon Airport, to bring much needed peace of mind to those living or visiting the rural parts of the county and who are outside the ‘golden hour’ of emergency care if they need to travel by road.
“I have long said that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and it is time that the people of West and North Clare feel that they have the same right to emergency and lifesaving care as anyone else in Ireland.”