Action urged as 47 patients left on trolleys at hospital

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation yesterday called for a major emergency plan to be put in place at University Hospital Limerick after almost 50 patients were left on trolleys in the emergency department.

According to the INMO, at 8am yesterday, 47 patients, who were admitted in the previous 24-48 hours for care but for whom no beds were available, were left on trolleys in the emergency department.

“This is catastrophic and the major emergency plan should have been utilised by management at the hospital to protect the patients, the staff, and to assist to make the hospital safe,” the union said.

“Despite the fact that the Health Information and Quality Authority in June 2014 detailed a range of risks resulting from the overcrowding in UHL, it still continues.”

The INMO said at least 70 acute beds are required at the hospital to cope with the fallout from a “totally mismanaged reconfiguration process in the mid-west”.

“We are also appealing to the new health minister, Leo Varadkar, to take urgent action in respect of the consistent and deplorable overcrowding in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick,” it said.

“If €2m is made available by the minister, an additional 30 beds can be in place very shortly, in time for expected winter pressures.”

Mary Fogarty, INMO’s industrial relations officer, said there was no doubt the level of overcrowding was causing poor outcomes for patients and a totally unacceptable work environment for staff.

“An urgent and implementable action plan is required, with robust management of same, if this hospital is to survive the winter without inflicting more harm on patients,” said Ms Fogarty.

In a response last night, the UL hospitals group said the hospital “regrets that any patient has to wait to be admitted”. The statement said all additional beds had been opened to deal with the “unexpected increase” in patients presenting at the emergency department and additional staffing had been made available.

The statement also said a plan for a 96-bed ward “forms part of the 2014-16 UL Hospitals Strategic Plan” and that, in the meantime, management would try to identify ways of relocating existing services to make additional beds available.