Limerick hospital overcrowding continues as acting chief takes up role

University Hospital Limerick (UHL) got a new boss on the day it set an overcrowding record earlier this week.

Health Service Executive official Sonya Cotter has been drafted in as chief executive of the UL Hospitals Group while Colette Cowan is on leave, staff have been told.

Ms Cowan, chief executive of the hospital group since 2014, went on leave in the last week and was replaced on an acting basis by Ms Cotter on Wednesday.

UHL, which has suffered from severe overcrowding for the past decade, set a new trolley record this week, with 150 patients waiting for admission on Wednesday.

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There were 124 patients waiting for admission on Friday, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation daily count of trolleys. This is the second-highest figure recorded in an Irish hospital.

Last December, HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster appointed a new official with responsibility for all health services in the midwest, to whom Ms Cowan was required to report.

The appointment of Sandra Broderick, who has responsibility for UL Hospital Group as well as community and public healthcare in the region, was made in advance of similar appointments in other parts of the country.

In a mail to senior managers this week, Ms Broderick said she had raised the “significant and sustained demand pressures” on the hospital group with Mr Gloster.

In this context, Ms Cotter has been assigned as acting chief executive of the group for the duration of Ms Cowan’s absence. “This is to enable all staff to focus on their own roles exclusively,” she said.

Last month, Mr Gloster and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly declined to express confidence in the management of UHL following the death of 16-year-old Aoife Johnston there more than a year ago. A report on her death found overcrowding in its emergency department was “endemic”.

Ms Cowan started her career as an emergency department nurse and worked in Galway before coming to the midwest. She had had several unpaid adjunct professorial roles in nursing and midwifery.

Ms Cotter is listed on the HSE website as interim head of its special delivery and performance management unit.

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