Patients ‘dying of neglect’ as trolley rates hit record in Limerick

University Hospital Limerick. File picture: Dan Linehan

Patients are “dying of neglect” at University Hospital Limerick, advocates have claimed, as overcrowding hit a national record high of 150 people without a bed yesterday.

A protest is now being planned for outside the Dáil, with organisers urging people from Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary to attend.

Those are the counties that are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

Trolley numbers have hit 100 or more daily for more than a fortnight at UHL.

The 150 people without a bed in the hospital, a total described by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation as “unacceptable and dangerous”, were among a national figure of 710.

Families in the Midwest Hospital Campaign have a petition before the Oireachtas today, calling for emergency departments (EDs) in nearby hospitals in Nenagh, Ennis, and St John’s in Limerick to reopen.

“People are dying of neglect, it is unforgiveable,” spokeswoman Noeleen Moran said.

“Elective surgeries remain cancelled in UHL since Christmas, so extra staff have been available to cope with the expected surge and there just isn’t enough capacity to deal with it.”

The campaign was told it is clinically unsafe to reopen the EDs in the other hospitals, but Ms Moran asked: “How is 150 people on trolleys safe?”

Marie McMahon joined the campaign following the death of her husband, who spent 36 hours on a trolley in 2018.

“I just feel it is so sad and upsetting,” she said. “I can’t figure out how the Government can be so callous and dismissive of people here.

“They have this mantra about the resourcing they provide and it is so unhelpful. [Hospital staff] are at the end of their tether,” she said.

In separate efforts, Mike Daly — who lost his father to complications including sepsis in the hospital in 2010 — has led protests, including one of over 11,000 people.

“Nothing has happened,” he said. “People are anxious, there is a lot of fear out there in many ways from people who don’t want to go to UHL.”

He is now planning a Dublin protest, saying: “Limerick has to come to the Dáil, because the Dáil is not listening to Limerick.”

Limerick councillor Conor Sheehan, whose grandfather spent 100 hours on a trolley, said the area has been abandoned. He asked: “When are [the Government] going to intervene?”

UHL pointed to unusually high patient numbers, saying the daily average is now 240 compared to 219 last year.

“We apologise to anyone who has had a long wait for admission to University Hospital Limerick in recent days,” a spokesman said.

HSE CEO Bernard Gloster recently defended the hospital.

“I do want to say this to the public who live in that area — I live there myself — I have no difficulty saying to the public, if you require emergency care today or if you require hospital care, there is no reason you shouldn’t go to that hospital,” he said.

Stephen Donnelly told the Irish Examiner: “There is no standing over those kind of numbers. We have invested more in University Hospital Limerick, in the time of this Government, than in any other hospital.”