PLANS for a 120-bed replacement in-patient block at St John's Hospital, Limerick - to help tackle long-term patient overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick - are said to be “progressing”.

Up to 83% of patients who came to the overburdened Emergency Department of University Hospital Limerick on one day last month could have been more appropriately seen at various assessment units within the four-hospital UHL Group, a study has found.