Discussion of healthcare reforms in Mid-West 'has gone quiet', warns patients' group

Chairman of the HSE Mid West Patient & Service User Council, John Wall, expressed frustration that a development board has not yet been set up.

Potential options for taking some pressure off University Hospital Limerick are being discussed. Picture Dan Linehan

A development board for promised healthcare reforms in the Mid-West must be quickly set up, according to patient advocates, who are concerned that talk around the issue "has gone quiet".

In November, health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill pledged to act on advice received from health watchdog Hiqa for tackling patient safety risks, with three options.

Option A is expanding University Hospital Limerick in Dooradoyle, Option B includes building another hospital without an emergency department near University Hospital Limerick (UHL), while Option C is building a new Model 3 hospital with an emergency department as well as immediate action on bed numbers.

If Option B is acted upon, it will be overseen by a development board.

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However, chairman of the HSE Mid West Patient & Service User Council, John Wall, expressed frustration that this had not yet been set up.

“The board associated with the new development now needs to be advanced,” he said. 

“And to further that work, the sooner this is started, the sooner we can start to see results.” 

Hiqa’s advice should “not be diluted in any way”, he said.

“I’m not suggesting there’s been any delays, but the conversation has gone very quiet.” 

He pointed out that overcrowding is not just about emergency care, adding: “Dooradoyle is beyond saturation point.”

He welcomed news last week that the three injury units in the region saw a near 7% increase in patient numbers last year.

“It’s great the injury units are up,” he said. “From the figures presented, there are about 50 people a day either being presented or referred in. That’s taking some of the pressure off the emergency department, but the emergency department is running at about 280 attendances per day on top of those figures.” 

He warned that data shared with the patient council shows that UHL itself is running at about 130% occupancy.

This ongoing pressure, he said, reinforces the need to move on the Hiqa report.

“The numbers are expanding beyond what can be reasonably expected to be deemed safe and appropriate," he said.

A public meeting held in Ennis on Thursday, hosted by Sinn Féin, heard similar concerns about overcrowding.

'Not up for debate'

Angela Coll, from the Friends of Ennis Hospital group, issued a statement afterwards focused on the third leg of the plans, or Option C. This is for a hospital with an emergency department.

“It is our belief that this needs to be located within the environs of Ennis municipal district. That is not up for debate,” she said.

A HSE Mid West spokesman said on Friday that it was asked by Ms Carroll MacNeill to set up a project board to work on Option B.

He described this as “extension of the UHL hospital campus to comprise the existing Dooradoyle site and another site, in proximity to UHL".

He said the process of appointing the board is under way. 

“We await the minister’s direction in relation to Option C, the development of service and infrastructure capacity in HSE Mid West,” he said.