Building another hospital to tackle overcrowding in the Mid-West 'on the table', says minister

The minister made the comments at the habitually overcrowded University Hospital, where she officially opened a €105m, 6,700, 96-bed block on Monday

Minister for health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill acknowledged that a '20-year vision is not going to be enough' and additional capacity plan strategies would be required. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins photos

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill says she has not ruled out sanctioning the construction of an additional hospital, or, in fact, re-opening former hospital emergency departments, in order to increase bed capacity in the Mid-West region.

The minister told reporters at the habitually overcrowded University Hospital (UHL), where she officially opened a €105m, 6,700, 96-bed block, that “all of the options are on the table”.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said she has until “before Christmas” to decide which of three options, put forward by Hiqa two weeks ago, is her preference for increasing capacity in the region.

The health watchdog’s review of emergency healthcare in the Mid-West recommended the construction of an additional hospital; extending the UHL site; and/or providing additional capacity off the UHL site.

The Hiqa report said the “core issue is that there are not enough inpatient beds” in the region, and that “immediate action” is required to add capacity “to address current risks to patient safety in the shortest timeframe and safest way possible”.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said while she is “open to all three options that Hiqa have identified”, her “priority” is to provide capacity in the short term. Works have already begun on a second 96-bed block on the UHL site with a third proposed.

The minister said the current plan to add capacity at the UHL site will transition the region from having the “lowest per capita in-bed ratio” in 2020, to having “the second-highest in the country” by 2028.

The 96-additional beds provided at UHL on Monday is a “significant step towards addressing the bed capacity deficits in the Mid-West”, she said.

Twenty-year vision

She pledged to discuss with all stakeholders, including patient groups, their ideas to build bed capacity, and added: “I’m thinking about 20 years ahead and what this region is going to need”.

The Mid West Regional Hospital Campaign Group, which includes families of loved ones who have died on trolleys at UHL, have repeatedly called for the re-opening of EDs in Ennis, Co Clare and Nenagh, North Tipperary, and St John’s Hospital, Limerick, that were closed in 2009 and reconfigured to UHL.

When asked if she was open to re-opening them, the minister said the EDs would require additional support services, but, she repeated, “all of the options are on the table at the moment”.

The minister said a number of other measures have already been implemented to ease pressure on the Limerick ED, including placing more beds into Model 2 hospitals that provide step-down supports to the Model 4 UHL; increasing Medical Assessment Units; and providing virtual wards, “because we don’t want people coming to the emergency department unless they really need to”.

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However, she acknowledged that a “20-year vision is not going to be enough” and additional capacity plan strategies would be required.

An estimated 400 staff are required for the 96-bed block that opened on Monday. It’s understood 300 staff were recruited and the remaining 100 staff are being provided by agencies as well as a complement of staff already within the hospital.

When asked if the unit is fully staffed, HSE Chief executive Bernard Gloster replied: “We’re not in the habit of opening facilities that are not safely and properly staffed. 

"All of the beds are open, the unit is staffed, this unit would not be open if the beds were not properly staffed and the patients being able to be cared for.”