Recommendations for tackling UHL overcrowding expected 'within days'

Regional executive officer for HSE Mid-West Sandra Broderick was asked 'to revert within days as to her view on how best to take the recommendations into action in the short term'

Crisis team was announced on April 30 as part of responses to chronic levels of overcrowding highlighted during two inquests and a court hearing earlier this year.

Recommendations for tackling overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick by a specialist three-person team are now being assessed by the most senior HSE official in the region.

Newly appointed regional executive officer for HSE Mid-West Sandra Broderick is expected to say “within days” how these can be best applied in the hospital system and community services, the HSE said.

The crisis team was announced on April 30 as part of responses to chronic levels of overcrowding highlighted during two inquests and a court hearing earlier this year.

The team, led by Grace Rothwell, HSE national director and formerly manager of University Hospital Waterford, submitted its assessment to HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster last week.

This contained “a de-escalation proposal given the varying levels of congestion reported at various times”, a spokeswoman said.

Ms Broderick received the report over the weekend.

She was asked “to revert within days as to her view on how best to take the recommendations into action in the short term”. 

The file is being shared by her with hospital and community staff before reporting back. These recommendations have not yet been published.

The team has been asked to continue working “throughout July”, she added. 

The team also includes Dr Fergal Hickey, retired consultant in emergency medicine, and Orla Kavanagh, director of Nursing and Integration at University Hospital Waterford.

Overcrowding at the Waterford ED significantly reduced during Ms Rothwell's time as manager and has remained low.  

Other plans to help reduce overcrowding at UHL include the construction of a new unit which will have 71 new beds, along with 27 beds replacing older wards.

Meanwhile, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation trolley watch for Monday showed 85 patients without a bed at UHL, the worst affected in the country.

The national total was 440. There were 32 people waiting at Cork University Hospital, 10 at University Hospital Kerry, and three at University Hospital Waterford.

The HSE’s trolley report, which is counted differently, identified 356 waiting between trolleys and temporary surge beds. In UHL, it identified 75 patients waiting 

This data also shows that around the country, 14 people aged over 75 had spent longer than 24 hours on a trolley by Monday morning.