Emergency Department At Region’s Main Hospital “Exceptionally Busy”

Photo © Pat Flynn

The UL Hospitals Group is apologising to patients who have experienced long waits for admission, as the region’s main hospital deals with exceptionally high volumes of attendances in the Emergency Department.

People are being urged to consider all their care options before presenting at the ED at University Hospital Limerick.

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Hospital management has implemented its escalation plan which includes additional ward rounds, accelerating discharges and identifying patients for transfer to Model 2 hospitals, but they say that high numbers of admitted patients require a level of care that can only be provided for the Midwest at UHL.

They say that in general, patients currently admitted to the Dooradoyle facility are sicker and with more complicated conditions, and require longer inpatient stays to recover.

People are being urged to consider their care options, before attending the ED, such as their GP or GP out of hours service and the Injury Unit at Ennis General Hospital, which is open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.

Injury Units are for the treatment of broken bones, dislocations, sprains, strains, wounds, scalds and minor burns.

However, the UL Hospitals Group says anyone who is seriously injured or ill or is worried their life is at risk the ED will assess and treat them as a priority.

The group is apologising to any patient who has experienced a long wait for admission, during what has been described as a period of exceptionally high demand for services.