People are being urged to only visit the ED at the region’s main hospital in the case of an emergency.
There remains two confirmed cases of the flu virus at University Hospital Limerick, at a time when there has been a spike in the level of overcrowding there once again.
The INMO says there are 50 people on trolleys at the region’s main hospital today, including 32 in the Emergency Department.
The emergency department at University Hospital Limerick is one of the busiest in the country with over 65,000 attendances annually.
Over the past number of months, there have been 200 attendances on average over a 24 hour period on weekdays and 150 at weekends.
Trolley numbers have remained relatively low at the Dooradoyle facility in recent weeks, but in the past number of days there has been a spike in the level of overcrowding, with 61 patients waiting for beds in the ED and on hospital wards yesterday.
The UL Hospitals Group says there remains two confirmed cases of the flu virus at the hospital – Ten beds were closed last week, due to the implemetation of Infection and Prevention Control measures, but they have since re-opened.
Patients are being asked to leave the ED for emergencies only, while the University of Limerick Hospitals group is advising the public to attend the Local Injuries Unit or Medical Assessment Unit at Ennis General.
