Woman, 83, left unattended for over six hours: Patients slam 'cattle mart' conditions at Limerick hospital

Patients families have hit out at what they described as “cattle mart” Emergency Department (ED) conditions, as the highest-ever levels of patent overcrowding were recorded today at University Hospital Limerick.

Today, UHL was the most overcrowded hospital in the country with

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A hospital spokesman apologised to patients “experiencing lengthy waits for beds”, and that the hospital was “working to alleviate the situation”.

Speaking at the hospital today the daughter of an 83-year-old woman, diagnosed with dementia, said her mother was left sitting on a chair in urine-soaked clothes last week as overwhelmed staff at the hospital were initially too busy to change her catheter bag.

The 83-year old patient attended UHL at around 9.45pm last Monday night, November 18, along with her daughter, 62, after they had sought assistance.

However, despite complaining to staff at 9.45pm that the bag was leaking and needed changing, it was six hours later, at 3.50am, before staff got a chance to attend to the elderly patient’s needs.

“She was soaked, there was urine everywhere. She wasn't on a trolley, she was in the waiting room on the chair. It was wet everywhere,” the woman’s daughter, who asked not be named, said.

They gave me some kind of pad and told her to sit on that. But her clothes we’re wet and her coat was wet - it was sopping, it was disgusting.

The patient’s bag was eventually changed and she was allowed home.

The patient and her daughter returned to UHL at 4pm yesterday after the pensioner took a fall at her home. She was still waiting on a trolley 24 hours later with a suspected broken bone in her back.

“It’s madness, its ridiculous. Last night they didn't even have trolleys, people were sitting on chairs, any little space they could find at the end of trolleys,” the patient’s daughter said.

Despite their ordeal she praised “brilliant” staff for doing their best despite the cramped conditions and hectic workload.

She also praised UHL for treating her family with “unbelievably good care” when her sister and her father both previously passed away at the hospital.

Another patient, John Monaghan (73) was taken to the hospital by ambulance from his home in Ennis, Co Clare, at 11.30am Sunday.

University Hospital Limerick

Despite being seriously ill he was still in the Limerick ED, waiting on a trolley, “praying” for a bed, over 24 hours later.

“We are just squeezing past people in the corridors. I feel sorry for the staff. Genuinely, the staff are trying their hardest in there. It’s crazy, it really is,” Mr Monaghan’ son John Monaghan junior said.

They are trying to fit oxygen bottles to people in the corridors. The staff are just thrown to the wolves.

Mr Monaghan Jnr, who travelled to the hospital from his home in Belfast, said his father was suffering with “fluid on the lungs, breathing difficulty” and was diagnosed with cancer last week.

“His lips went blue and they rushed him in. He had kidney failure, but he’s had a kidney transplant so he’s attending Renal for that, and he was diagnosed with cancer on Tuesday.”

“He has all that going on and now this here. He’s mixed emotions - one minute he’s okay and the next he (asks) is am I better off going,” he added.

Noreen Keane, 76, from Rhebogue, attended the hospital at 8.30pm Sunday night complaining of severe pain.

The Limerick grandmother eventually got a bed in a single room nine hours later.

“We are kind of the lucky ones,” her daughter Karen Ryan remarked.

It’s ridiculous in there. It’s like a cattle market, there are trolleys everywhere. You’re standing over trolleys to get into the room, it’s madness.

UHL was asked for comment on all of the patient cases.

In a statement regarding the overcrowding at the hospital, a UL Hospitals Group spokesman urged the public to “consider all care options before attending the Emergency Department (ED) at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) today”.

The hospital group was “appropriately transferring patients to other hospitals” and patients were “receiving expert medical care (with) every effort being made to make their stay as comfortable as possible”.

The spokesman also urged people “to consider all available care options and not attend the ED at UHL unless absolutely necessary”.

“People may attend a GP or out-of-hours GP service for referral to an Assessment Unit the following day if required. Local Injury Units (LIUs) are open at Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals (8am-8pm every day) and St John’s Hospital (8am-6pm, Monday to Friday) for treatment of broken bones, dislocations, sprains, strains, wounds, scalds and minor burns.”

A UHL spokesman went on: “The latest available data shows that in the 24 hours prior to 8am this morning (Monday), a total of 183 patients had attended the hospital’s Emergency Department (ED). This is significantly above the norm for a Sunday.”

“We regret that any patient has to wait on a trolley for admission.

This is not the level of service we wish to provide but we want to reassure the public that every effort is made to move patients to a bed as soon as possible.