Stephen Donnelly admits no end in sight for UHL trolley crisis

The situation at University Hospital Limerick and other hospitals around the country is set to worsen with the numbers of people going to emergency departments with respiratory infections surging by the week

Stephen Donnelly said he has travelled to the hospital on several occasions, with management seeking additional capacity, including more nurses, emergency medicine consultants and beds. Photo: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has admitted there is no end in sight to the trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick more than 18 months after he sent in an “expert team” to address the situation.

“There are going to be people on trolleys in Limerick right through the winter,” Mr Donnelly admitted in an interview with the Irish Examiner during which he also said he could not guarantee that the situation will be better in a year's time.

On numerous occasions this month the number of people without a bed in UHL has topped 100, according to the daily count by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

On December 14 alone it recorded 113 people on trolleys at the hospital. Over the entire year, there were 21,445 people on trollies in UHL.

The Health Minister said he has travelled to the hospital on several occasions, with management seeking additional capacity, including more nurses, emergency medicine consultants and beds.

Mr Donnelly said extra bed capacity is being given to UHL and that the hospital has seen the biggest increase in its budget compared to others. He said the hospital needs to run the facility “in the best way possible”.

In April 2022, the Health Minister sent in an expert team to UHL which was supposed to tackle the trolley crisis there. Yet Mr Donnelly admits the hospital still has a “ways to go yet” before the overcrowding issue is tackled.

Inside the overcrowded University Hospital Limerick in October. In April 2022, the Health Minister sent in an expert team to UHL which was supposed to tackle the trolley crisis there. File picture: David Raleigh

Asked if he could provide assurances as to how much better the situation will be in a year's time, he said  “nobody could”, but that the completion of an additional 200 beds will help lessen overcrowding.

The situation at UHL and other hospitals around the country is set to worsen with the numbers of people going to emergency departments with respiratory infections surging by the week. The number of people attending with covid and flu alone almost doubled from 456 last week to more than 800 this week.

HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said the figures will continue to rise over the next few weeks and that hospitals will be put under “significant” pressure.

One of the victims of the overcrowding at UHL was Aoife Johnston.

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The 16-year-old died from meningitis last December after being left on a trolley for over 12 hours in Limerick Hospital’s emergency department. Her family had raised her deteriorating condition with hospital staff at the time.

Earlier this month, HSE Chief Executive Bernard Gloster ordered that a new investigation be carried out into her death, which is to be led by former chief justice of the Supreme Court, Frank Clarke.

“I’m very concerned by what I read. I am heartbroken for Aoife’s parents, for her,” the Health Minister said. "There are clear protocols, more than one, which were not followed (in the run-up to the 16 year-old's death). I’ve been very clear in seeking assurances that the clinical and managerial governance that needs to be in place in Limerick and indeed around the country is in place.”