Pensioner, 90, waited more than 48 hours for pain medication at UHL, says daughter

A 90-year-old pensioner woman was forced to endure more than 48 hours of pain on a trolley and chair during the worst ever period of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick.

Retired businesswoman Ann Talty, from Raheen, Co Limerick, was admitted to the emergency department after her health deteriorated due to back pain she had been experiencing for two weeks.

Her daughter Trish told said that Ann, who used to run a shop along with her husband John, was admitted to the Limerick hospital’s emergency department (ED) on Monday morning.

That morning, UHL set a new record for the highest level of overcrowding in a single day, with 85 patients on trolleys, 55 of whom were waiting for a bed in the emergency department.

Trish said that, on Tuesday, a doctor had ordered pain medication for Ann but, “two hours later, she still hadn’t gotten it” until a nurse was able to administer it when it was brought to their attention.

Trish said when she offered to take her mother to the bathroom, Ann told her she was “afraid that I might not be able to walk”.

Speaking about the frontline staff, Trish said: “It’s not the staff’s fault. I can completely understand that, but the situation is so crazy, I cannot stand here and not say something.

“I think there has to be reports every day in the paper until they do something. This situation has caused my mother to be more ill, in more pain, and it has exacerbated her back condition and her back pain.”

Ann was later taken by ambulance to St John’s Hospital in Limerick on Wednesday evening.

A spokesman for the UL Hospitals Group said he could not comment on individual cases with third parties.

“We regret that any patient has to wait on a trolley for admission,” he said.

“This is not the level of service we wish to provide, but we want to re-assure the public that every effort is made to move patients to a bed as soon as possible.”

The spokesman said the emergency department at UHL is one of the busiest in the country, and the “unusually high volume of patients has prompted hospital management to appeal to the public to use the ED only for emergencies only. All surge capacity identified under the hospital’s escalation plan is currently being used for admitted patients”.

The spokesperson said an escalation policy has been put in place, which includes the transfer of patients to other hospitals within the Mid-West and community care settings.