Sir, – We refer to the ongoing focus on University of Limerick Hospitals, outlining the extreme crowding and relentless demands on our services for over 10 years. Regarding University Hospital Limerick (UHL), the ability to provide care to our patients is stretched beyond its current capacity.
All staff, who are endeavouring to provide the best possible care to patients in these conditions, are becoming increasingly demoralised and, as a result, the hospital is facing ongoing problems with recruitment and retention. UL Hospitals group is not adequately resourced to deal with the volume of emergency presentations. UHL emergency department sees over 240 patients each day. Built in 2017 for maximum attendances of 190 patients, it is now overwhelmed with unacceptable pressure on all staff to endeavour to provide an appropriate standard of care.
The recent Deloitte report clearly outlines the disparity in support and resourcing. We welcome the recent engagement of the Taoiseach and Minister for Health and their acknowledgement that UL Hospitals group require specific support to build additional bed capacity to serve the demographic demands.
The origins of this ongoing crisis date back to the poorly resourced reconfiguration of hospital services in the midwest in 2009. The 640 beds to support this were never delivered. The withdrawal of direct emergency hospital care at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s Hospitals was detrimental without the required capacity at UHL. We propose that additional resources are urgently required to maximise the use of our model two hospitals in a safe and clinically effective manner. We are calling on the Minister for Health to bring this about through engagement with the clinical stakeholders and allocation of adequate resources. Currently, patients from remote parts of west Clare, for example, must present to the emergency department at UHL and regularly spend two to three days on a trolley before ultimately transferring, by ambulance, to their local hospital where they could have presented and been effectively treated in the first place.
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The consultants of UHL commit to engage with all parties concerned (public, primary care, management and politicians) to seek urgent and sustainable solutions to this unacceptable situation.
We call on the politicians of Limerick, Tipperary, and Clare to honour their commitments to the people of the midwest and address the chronic under resourcing of the region, in both primary and hospital care, as a matter of absolute urgency. Furthermore, we suggest that the midwest be the first hospital group to open a scheduled care surgical hub. – Yours, etc,
Dr SYED ABBAS,
Mr MAMOUN
ABDELRAHMAN,
Dr SAMER ARNOUS,
Dr SAID ATYANI,
Mr CHWANROW BABAN,
Dr NICK BARRETT,
Dr PETER BOERS,
Dr DAN BORLASE,
Dr CRESSIDA BRENNAN,
Dr CATHY CASEY,
Dr LIAM CASSERLY,
Dr ELIJAH CHAILA,
Dr NICK CLARKE,
Prof RUTH CLIFFORD,
Prof CALVIN COFFEY,
Mr EOGHAN CONDON,
Dr MARIAN CONROY,
Dr JAMES CROTTY,
Dr KEVIN DOODY,
Dr MARIANNE
FITZGERALD,
Ms CHRISTINA FLEMING,
Mr MICHAEL GILBRIDE,
Prof SUBHASIS GIRI,
Mr KEVIN HICKEY,
Ms MARIE
HICKEY-DWYER,
Dr DIARMUID HILTON,
Dr PHILIP HODNETT
Dr NARO IMCHA,
Dr SUCHETA JOHNSON,
Prof EAMON
KAVANAGH,
Mr CIAN KENNEDY,
Dr PATRICK KIELY,
Dr GARY KIERNAN,
Prof TOM KIERNAN,
Dr GRZEGORZ
KORPANTY,
Prof BARRY LINNANE,
Dr MAEVE LYNCH,
Prof DECLAN LYONS,
Dr PARDEEP KUMAR
MAHESHWARI,
Dr UZMA MAHMOOD,
Dr EOIN MARTIN,
Dr SIOBHAN MCGRANE,
Dr CIAN MCELLISTRIM,
Mr MEKKI MEDANI,
Ms ANNE MERRIGAN,
Mr TONY MOLONEY,
Dr EITHNE MULLOY,
Dr AISLING NEE,
Dr SIOBHÁN NEVILLE,
Dr ORLA NEYLON,
Prof JENNIFER
NÍ MHUIRCHEARTAIGH,
Dr CATHERINE NIX,
Prof AIDAN O’BRIEN,
Dr JULIE O’BRIEN,
Dr HUGH O’CALLAGHAN,
Prof NUALA O’CONNELL,
Dr CORMAC O’CONNOR,
Prof MARGARET
O’CONNOR,
Dr SÉAMUS
Ó FLAITHBHEARTAIGH,
Prof CLODAGH
O’GORMAN,
Dr ROSHNI KALACHAND,
Dr DENIS O’KEEFFE,
Dr HILARY O’LEARY,
Mr MICHAEL O’REILLY,
Dr VAL O’REILLY,
Dr AISLING O’RIORDAN,
Dr NEMER OSMAN,
Mr COLIN PEIRCE,
Dr TOM PEIRCE,
Dr CATHERINE PETERS,
Prof ROY K. PHILLIP,
Dr RACHEL POWER,
Dr COLIN QUINN,
Dr JUDE RYAN,
Dr C.B. SABU,
Dr TIM SCANLON,
Dr JAMES SHANNON,
Dr MARTIN SHELLY,
Dr MAEVE SKELLY,
Dr JOHN SLEVIN,
Prof AUSTIN STACK,
Prof SHONA TORMEY,
Dr FEARGAL TWOMEY,
Dr JOHN TWOMEY,
Dr LORRAINE WALSH,
Prof MICHAEL WATTS,
Mr MARK WILSON,
University Hospital
Limerick.