A Clare TD has argued that reopening just one Midwest emergency department would be akin to closing a hospital in Dublin.
Tensions flared at yesterday’s meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Petitions, where government representatives heard that a patient “would rather die in my own home than on a trolley” at UHL.
Over one year on from its submission of a petition with 15,000 signatures calling for the reopening of emergency departments at Ennis, Nenagh and St. Johns hospitals, the Midwest Hospital Campaign Group has appeared before a government committee to outline its grievances.
Just over one month ago, the highest level of overcrowding ever recorded at an Irish hospital was experienced at University Hospital Limerick, with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation reporting that 130 people were waiting on trolleys during morning rounds.
The Midwest Hospital Campaign Group has long decried the overcrowding crisis at the Doordoyle facility, where it claims lives are being lost without accountability.
The husband of Midwest Hospital Group Campaign Member Marie McMahon, passed away on a trolley at UHL in April 2018.
Marie, who’s a resident of Ennistymon, has told the committee that despite claims from Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and others that the INMO figures are inaccurate, she knows from personal experience that the crisis can’t be denied.
The committee hearing has been told that UHL serves a population of over 400,000 people which is in stark contrast to Letterkenny Hospital which is a Model 3 facility and serves a population of just 120,000.
Ballyvaughan resident and Midwest Hospital Campaign Group spokesperson Noeleen Moran says while the issue of people waiting on trolleys is a consistent concern, resources at the facility are particularly burdened during the tourist season.
Oireachtas Public Petitions Committee Chair Martin Browne TD has pledged to arrange a meeting between the Midwest Hospital Campaign Group and Minister Stephen Donnelly in the near future to give clarity on a number of matters.
Referring to a question put forward at the hearing by Emer Higgins TD on which of the three aforementioned facilities should get priority, Scariff Independent TD Michael McNamara argues that no single hospital is less important than another.
You can listen to the full committee discussion below.
