Limerick hospital group defends record on time taken to discharge patients

The UL Hospitals Group has defended its record on the time it takes it to discharge patients, by producing statistics which show it is the best performing hospital group in the country, of four or more hospitals, for rates of delayed discharge care.

The hospital is consistently the most overcrowded in the country, however management say they do not have enough bed capacity to deal with their catchment of around 400,000.

UHL has the only 24-hour Emergency Department in the mid west region after Accident and Emergency units were closed in Nenagh, Ennis and St Johns (Limerick), in 2009.

Figures provided by the HSE, in a response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Stephen Donnelly on November 19 last, showed that “in absolute terms and per head of population, patients in the MidWest are less likely than anywhere else in the country to experience a delayed transfer of care from hospital”, a UL Hospitals Group spokesman told the Limerick Post.

“Longstanding and ongoing collaboration between acute and community sectors continues to ensure that the MidWest performs well in terms of delayed transfers of care,” they explained.

“Any reasonable analysis of the national data demonstrates” the positive outcomes from Limerick patients, they added.

“At any point in time over the past year, University Hospital Limerick accounts for approximately 2% of the total bed days lost through delayed transfers of care in the country.”

The hospital spokesman added that the “deficits in acute bed capacity in the MidWest are acknowledged by all”.

“UL Hospitals Group has for a number of years now had the shortest average length of stay for both medical and surgical patients,” they said.

“Our readmission rates for both medical and surgical patients are also well within the national targets.

"The (UL Hospitals) Group also reduces time spent in hospital by ensuring suitable elective surgical patients are admitted on the day of their procedure.”

Figures support this, they said: “Last year, the national target for Day of Surgery Admission (DoSA) was 81.7%. UL Hospitals Group achieved 91.4%.”

The hospital is also seeing positive results in relation to the OPAT service - providing antibiotics to suitable patients at home and in the community.

UL Hospitals Group - which includes University Hospital Limerick; St Johns; Nenagh; Ennis - was the best performing hospital group in the country apart from the three children’s hospitals for delayed patient discharge rates.

It was the best performing hospital in the country for its rate of losing bed days due to delayed patients discharges, according to latest statistics seen by the Limerick Post.

“The Group saved 2,198 bed days in 2018 and hope to improve on this in 2019,” the spokesman added.

UHL was responding to criticism by Fianna Fáil Mayor of Clare Cllr Cathal Crowe who highlighted the “more than 7,000 bed days lost across UL Hospital Group”.

Cllr Crowe described the lost bed days in the region “as a result of delayed discharges” as being “completely unacceptable”.

A UL Hospitals Group spokesman provided a breakdown of the national picture regarding bed days lost, which showed the 7,130 bed days lost across UHL, St Johns, Nenagh and Ennis were the lowest for any hospital group - apart from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI Crumlin; CHI Tallaght; CHI Temple Street).

Cllr Crowe said: “Until the government get serious on delivering home care supports, the number of lost bed days is only going to increase.

"Since the start of this year we have lost 378 bed days in Ennis, 464 in St John’s and a massive 4,748 in UHL.”