‘Conditions better in field hospitals than in A&E’

A FORMER defence minister said he had witnessed better conditions in military field hospitals than those patients endure & at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

Willie O’Dea made the comment following an unannounced visit to the hospital’s A&E yesterday.

He was accompanied by fellow Fianna Fáil TDs, Niall Collins and Timmy Dooley.

Mr O’Dea said: “It was a shocker what I saw facing very ill people. It was like something you would see in a hospital in an underdeveloped country.

“I have been to Africa with Irish troops, when minister, and there I saw better conditions in military field hospitals. The geography and facilities are totally unsuitable for people who are very ill,” he said.

“We saw trolleys with male and female patients jammed up against each other and patients had no privacy and no dignity. It is not good enough in this day and age in the second busiest A&E in the country, which has to deal with up to 66,000 patients each year, now that patients from Nenagh and Ennis are being dealt with in Limerick under the configuration which commenced two years ago.”

Mr O’Dea said they were supporting the campaign by the nurse members of INMO and SIPTU, who have staged work stoppages over what they claim are dangerous conditions in the hospital A&E.

He said the configuration was the best way forward for better A&E care in the region: “But the money which is needed to expand the greater demands on the Mid-Western Regional has not followed to ensure the extra workload is adequately funded. Today we saw for ourselves and what the nurses have been saying has been borne out,” he said.

Mr Collins said the situation cannot be allowed continue and action needs to be taken to ensure the A&E can operate properly in the interest of patient care.

He said: “We are deeply concerned at what we have seen today and there is no doubt that every concern raised by the nurses is justified. Something needs to be done to address very real problems.”

Mr Dooley added, “As the Minister for Health continues to ignore the problem, the health service right across the region is suffering.

“It’s not just about patients in Limerick, people in my own constituency of Co Clare are affected and are very worried about what is going on. We are again calling on the Minister for Health, James Reilly, to visit the Emergency Department at MWRH this week. He has tried to wash his hands of this for far too long. He needs to see, just like we did today, how this level of overcrowding is impacting patients.

“As we head into the winter months, this problem will only get worse unless Minister Reilly takes decisive action,” he said.