'Serious risks to patients remain' at University Hospital Limerick, doctors warn

The consultants on the Medical Board of HSE Mid West advised minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill that “risks to patient care at UHL remain intolerable and unacceptable” at the overcrowded hospital. Picture Dan Linehan

Doctors at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) have warned the health minister that patient safety risks identified by health watchdog Hiqa last year remain, as they called for urgent action to end caring for patients in corridors. 

It comes as HSE data shows 23 people were waiting 24 hours on trolleys for a bed by Monday morning at UHL. 

“More than seven months after Hiqa exposed serious risks to patient care at Ireland’s busiest and most overcrowded hospital, driven by constrained bed capacity, we say the conditions identified in that report persist daily," the doctors said.

The risks include severe overcrowding and an excessive number of patients waiting on trolleys for hospital beds, cared for by exhausted staff.

The consultants on the Medical Board of HSE Mid West advised minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill that “risks to patient care at UHL remain intolerable and unacceptable” at the overcrowded hospital.

They want to see a HSE Midwest development board in place to deliver the new hospital on the Patrickswell site promised by the minister in March. 

She had said this would be quickly set up and would report to her by the autumn. 

“If the minister has a chairperson in mind for the board, clarity is now urgently needed on when that appointment will be made and when the hospital development board will be formally established to drive the project forward,” the doctors said.

They called for plans to guarantee an all-services acute hospital with a minimum of 400 beds in the first phase and to deliver at least 1,000 beds in the long-term.

This should be co-located with the new maternity hospital.

They called for emergency funding for this year, saying this is needed “to address escalating patient safety risks, including urgent recruitment of additional consultants, NCHDs, nurses, health and social care professionals, clerical staff, and technical staff.” 

They also called for suspension of HSE limits on recruitment across the region covering Clare, Limerick and north Tipperary.

This comes just days after it emerged the HSE nationally is facing another recruitment pause as it struggles to overcome a three-month budget deficit of €250m.

Medical board chairman and surgeon Colin Peirce said: “This crisis did not emerge overnight, and it has not gone unrecognised.

“Frontline staff, clinicians, and patient advocates have been warning for years that the Midwest does not have the acute hospital capacity required to provide consistently safe care for a growing and ageing population.

"Those warnings have been repeatedly escalated over many years. Hiqa has confirmed them. Patient and staff continue to experience them every day. Our teams are doing everything possible to protect patients in extraordinarily difficult conditions, but mitigation is not safety.” 

Referring to emergency plans linked to overcrowding, he said: “Escalation plans are not capacity. Corridor care is not acceptable healthcare.”

On Monday, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation counted 97 patients on trolleys at UHL and six at Ennis hospital. The HSE figures show 60 people on trolleys and 43 on temporary surge beds. 

Hiqa told the health minister last September that she must either expand University Hospital Limerick, provide a support hospital, or build a new hospital to address chronic overcrowding.

The health watchdog told Jennifer Carroll MacNeill that “planning for these beds needs to commence now”. It called for urgent action, warning that overcrowding continues to pose an ongoing risk to patient safety at University Hospital Limerick.

While campaigners have called only for a new hospital offering emergency care in addition to University Hospital Limerick, Hiqa has presented alternative options.

Option A is to “expand capacity at University Hospital Limerick on the Dooradoyle site,” referring to adding beds at its current location.

Option B is to “extend the UHL hospital campus to comprise a new second site in close proximity under a shared governance and resourcing model.” This would mean building a smaller nearby hospital to handle non-crisis care or clinics, relieving pressure on UHL.

Option C is to “develop a Model 3 hospital in HSE Mid West, providing a second emergency department for the region.” This would involve building a hospital similar to Mercy University Hospital in Cork or University Hospital Kerry in Tralee. It would include an emergency department, meaning the Midwest counties would have two such facilities.