*An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar (FG) in UHL. Photograph: Brian Arthur
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC should not be afraid to seek treatment at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), the Taoiseach has said but acknowledged continued overcrowding is reducing the dignity and privacy that patients should have.
On Monday, 109 patients were waiting for a trolley at UHL, the highest number so far in 2023.
Ongoing overcrowding at the region’s main hospital remains an issue with elected representatives in the county often voicing their worry that people are fearful when it comes to having to visit UHL.
Responding to such concerns in Limerick, An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar (FG) commented, “Don’t be afraid, it is absolutely the case that people don’t experience the conditions that they should experience and that the patient experience is not what it should be, you are still better off being in hospital if you are sick than taking the risk of staying at home, except in a very serious emergency just don’t call the ambulance or go straight to hospital, consider your options talk to your GP, consider GP out of hours and consider the local injury units in particular.
“There are many ways to get treatment other than necessarily the emergency departments. No hospital is perfect and no health system is without risk but for the vast majority of people if they come to this hospital or any hospital in Ireland they will get the healthcare they need”.
On his views of the emergency department at UHL, the Taoiseach stated, “I’m a medical doctor by profession, I’ve worked in four emergency departments, I’ve visited every single one in the country at this stage, I visited the old one in Limerick which was very basic and old-fashioned, I opened the new one and I was in it again today, it is a very good, modern well-equipped emergency department, it has its own CT scanner which wouldn’t be the case in other parts of the country”.
He acknowledged, “It is overcrowded, that means there are patients who have been admitted who shouldn’t be there, they should be in a bed on a hospital ward, we do know that if people spend six, eight, nine hours or more on a trolley that it can result in reduced patient outcomes as well as reduced dignity and privacy, it’s not acceptable and I’m sad to say that it is something I’ve seen before with my experience as a relative of a patient and a doctor. I think there is a pathway forward, a new 96 bed block under construction here at the public hospital in UHL, plans for a second one which I strongly support, a new private hospital now under construction will be open in 2025 and will operate on a non profit basis, a public/private hospital and patients will use it”.
Bon Secours Hospital’s planned opening in 2025 and the addition of a 96 bed block at UHL will help overcrowding, he maintained. “If you think about it, 96 beds being built at UHL and plans I support for another 96 on top of it, 150 beds going into the new Bons which will be open in 2025 and 50 beds at Barringtons which I’d like to see continuing in health care use, add all that up that’s a lot of beds and there’s also plans to upgrade services at Ennis and Nenagh, I think it can create the conditions whereby we can dramatically improve patient experience and overcrowding here in Limerick, what I do know from other hospitals and regions is that on its own capacity isn’t enough, we have to do other things as well – build up community services in particular more people being able to get the care they need from GP, community diagnostics, also making sure there is good patient flow and the right working practices so that if a patient is admitted to hospital they get the scans, they get the tests and get what they need in three days rather than five days therefore freeing up beds for other patients”.
Varadkar added, “We’ve a very good hospital here in Limerick, I know there’s some problems with overcrowding and patients don’t get the care or attention they deserve or are entitled to but it is a modern emergency department, I think everyone acknowledges once you get through the access problems and once you get a bed that people get a really high standard of care here. They’ve achieved their targets in terms of day case surgeries last year, the number of long waiters has gone down and the outcomes in terms of stroke, cancer, heart attack are as good as anywhere in the country, it is important to acknowledge that too”.
Addressing the constant pressure faced by UHL staff due to the overcrowding, the Taoiseach said, “I’ve worked in hospital medicine and as a general practitioner, a lot of my family and friends worked in healthcare and still do, I understand the pressures people are under when they come to work in these conditions, I understand the frustration and sense of guilt you feel when you don’t feel you’re giving your patients the quality of care that they deserve, I absolutely understand that. What I would say to any interest group, any union or representative body to work with the Government, when I was Minister which was not all that long ago, the budget for health was €15m, it’s €22m now and that’s a huge increase in resources, we’ve 6,000 more nurses and doctors working in the health service than we had three years ago despite the challenges we face when it comes to recruitment and retention, we’re fighting and competing with health services all over the world, we’ve a 1000 more beds in the system than we had the day COVID arrived in Ireland, it’s a huge investment and there’s more to come, we need to work together to result in what is important which is that Sláintecare vision for affordable healthcare for patients, the access and good outcomes”.
