Man who spent four days on UHL trolley describes 'absolute chaos'

University Hospital Limerick is the worst affected in the country for overcrowding, with 76 people awaiting a bed as of 8am on Wednesday morning.

A man who was left on a trolley for four days has described the "absolute chaos" in University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

The hospital is the worst affected in the country for overcrowding, with 76 people awaiting a bed as of 8am on Wednesday morning.

Liam O'Brien went into the emergency department on St Stephen's Day, having suffered a flare-up of his Crohn's disease.

He was brought into UHL via ambulance before being put in a wheelchair for tests.

He explained to RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne: "Because my heart rate was through the roof, someone saw me and put me on an IV for fluids and painkillers. I was in a lot of pain because of the Crohn’s, I was completely dehydrated and was passing out.

"I had no real comfort sitting down, so I asked could I get a trolley and I got one after a while.

"I was on the trolley for four days. Once I got my IV in the initial room, they moved me across the corridor, and then I was moved around for a couple of hours on the first initial day, within the same zone.

"I stayed within that corridor and zone for four days.”

"At least a 13-hour wait to see a doctor'

Liam explained that a doctor inttially came to see him on the first night, believing he may have had an infection, but Liam knew that he needed steroids and heavier painkillers, having dealt with flare-ups consistently.

"I was moved out to the counter of the nurses station for Stephen’s night [December 26]. This is all within 10-20 metres of that original zone, everything was in that little zone. 

"There’s 40 or 50 patients around the place on trolleys, any chairs, wheelchairs, or whatever.

People who arrived at the department during Liam's time there were being told that there was "at least a 13-hour wait to see a doctor" — and this led to them taking out their frustrations on the nurses.

Liam said: "There’s no one higher to be seen there. The nurses end up being the face of UHL and they end up taking everything out on them.

“They were getting it left right and centre, some of them literally reduced to tears. I was talking to some of them and they hadn’t seen anything like that in a long long time."

On the morning of December 27, he was moved to another corridor, but there were still major issues.

Liam explained: “There was maybe ten beds in the corridor and you do naturally get to know the people around you.

You had a broken shoulder, dementia, schizophrenia, an overdose, respiratory problems, and me with Crohn’s.  We had nothing there. There was one toilet for the whole zone which is 50 or 60 people in that entire area of corridors and that was blocked. We had no shower facilities in that zone between us all. The fella in front of me was on a trolley for nine days.

"I was begging them to let me take a shower somewhere, they did let me into a different zone so I could but that was a complete favor and no one else got to do that. 

Test results

In his first 24 hours in the department, Liam gave two urine samples, three blood samples and underwent an X-ray and a CT scan.

However, he did not get any results for a number of days.

On Liam's third day in the department, December 28, he met a gastroenterologist, who gave him the required steroids and higher painkillers.

He was told that he requires a procedure as a result of the CT scan.

"The closest emergency appointment I can get with that doctor was Friday week.

“I asked them what could I do until then, it’s tough. They were like ‘you can go back in A&E if you want’ and I said ‘I’m here because of A&E, I’m this far.’. I’m waiting to talk to my GP and I might head for Galway today, that’s my plan.

I’m basically doorknocking looking for help and I don’t know what I need to do next.

“It’s absolute chaos. There’s hundreds upon hundreds of people going in there every day, they’re looking for help. It’s chaos every single hour of the day, every day."

UL Hospitals Group said in a statement to the Irish Examiner that it is unable to comment on any individual cases. However, it added: "We apologise to this patient, and any person who has been experiencing long waits for hospital beds in University Hospital Limerick or to see a doctor in the Emergency Department."

Overcrowding

The hospital had an average of 229 patients per day between Wednesday, December 28, up to 8am on Sunday, January 1, leading to the declaration of a major internal incident at the hospital.

The statement said 2022 has been "the busiest year on record for emergency care at UHL" and action had been taken, including adding extra staff, converting day beds in UHL to inpatient beds and only urgent elective surgery is going ahead in UHL over the coming days. 

It said none of the actions taken "minimises the inconvenience that patients and their loved ones experience during long waits for admission or treatment". 

"This is not the level of care we wish to provide, and we apologise to anyone who has been impacted at this time."