Elective hospital urgently needed in Mid-West, warns group chief

Patients are subjected to chronic overcrowding and long delays at University Hospital Limerick's emergency department. Picture: Dan Linehan

The chief executive of the University of Limerick (UL) Hospitals Group has said the region urgently needs a new hospital to focus solely on elective procedures to ease the pressure on the overcrowded system.

Colette Cowan also said 200 additional beds are needed to raise University Hospital Limerick (UHL) to the national bed-count average.