It’s claimed the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of a Shannon man at University Hospital Limerick must now be the catalyst for change in Midwest Healthcare.
65 Year-Old Martin Abbott passed away in an overcrowded emergency department in Dooradoyle in 2019 and an inquest into his death last week returned a verdict of medical misadventure.
Mr. Abbott presented to University Hospital Limerick on the 14th of December 2019 with symptoms of fever, coughing and diarrhoea.
He was then diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease; a serious form of pneumonia, and would spend the next three days on a trolley in an isolation cubicle.
On his third night in hospital, Martin was found lying on the floor of his cubicle, after falling from his trolley and last week, an inquest into his death heard he may have been dead for over an hour before being discovered by staff.
The UL Hospitals Group would later acknowledge deficits in the care provided to Martin Abbott and offer apologies to the Abbott family.
A Sinn Féin Senator insists that the shocking revelations that came to light in the inquest must now trigger the catalyst for change in MidWest Healthcare.
Ireland South Candidate in the European elections Paul Gavan believes the Government’s failure to deliver Primary Care facilities and invest in increased bed capacity in UHL has seriously failed the patients of the region and must be expedited.
But the Limerick native says politicians shouldn’t be making these decisions and that an independent clinical review is urgently needed to identify solutions to local service deficits.
You can listen to the full interview here:
A Clare Doctor meanwhile is questioning the usefulness of a new primary care pathway that’s being rolled out at University Hospital Limerick.
GP’s are now screening non-referral patients at the door of the Emergency Department in an effort to reduce overcrowding.
The Dooradoyle facility remains by far the busiest in the country today, with 105 patients on trolleys this morning, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
Lahinch GP and Clare Member of the IMO’s GP Committee Dr Michael Kelleher believes the pathway is simply a stop-gap solution and won’t effect long term change.
