A new report has recommended significant investment in inpatient and day beds to meet current and future demand at the region’s main hospital.
Commissioned by the UL Hospitals Group, the Deloitte report on patient flow has published a number of measures to address the severe overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Limerick.
The UL Hospitals Group commissioned Deloitte to conduct an external review into patient flow through the group’s six hospitals in March of this year.
This was prior to the intervention of the Minister for Health in assigning a national HSE team to support UHL in alleviating hospital overcrowding and improving patient flow.
In completing the report, Deloitte undertook a detailed analysis of data from 2019 to 2022 and projected demand out to 2036.
Consultation took place with 25 stakeholder groups across the acute and community services in the MidWest.
The Deloitte UL Hospitals Group Patient Flow Report has now been published and recommends a number of measures be implemented to address chronic overcrowding at the Dooradoyle facility.
Among the recommendations are the need for an additional 302 inpatient beds across the group’s hospitals by 2036 as well as 63 extra day beds, additional medical and nursing staff in the Emergency Department as an immediate priority, and more staff to extend the operating hours of the Acute Medical Unit at UHL.
Other measures focused on addressing the significant deficits in health and social care professionals on wards across the group to facilitate admissions avoidance, earlier discharges, development of integrated care pathways and the need for an updated IT system.
Comments of Prof Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group:
‘Significant and growing demand for unscheduled care, in particular over the last 18 months, has contributed to long wait times for patients and the curtailment of scheduled care for many patients whose treatment had already been delayed because of the pandemic. It was in this context that I commissioned Deloitte to undertake this external review in March 2022’.
‘The key findings of the report underline how we have been managing record demand for our services, from a population with greater health needs, with fewer beds and fewer staff per head of population. Publication of the Deloitte Report is an opportunity to address this fundamental imbalance as we move towards population-based resource allocation’.
‘It is important that I recognise the additional support that we have received from government and the HSE, with the addition of 98 new inpatient beds at UHL since the start of the pandemic and over 900 additional staff so far this year. Work will commence next month on a new 96-bed block for UHL. More work is needed, however, for us to catch up with other regions and to plan to meet the demands from a growing and rapidly ageing population’.
‘It is also important that we focus on efficiency so that we make the best use of the resources allocated to us. We continue to work with our community colleagues and the HSE Support Team on patient flow. Improvements in the number of patients waiting for a bed in recent weeks can be attributed to this collaborative work, supported by the appointment of additional patient flow co-ordinators’.
‘The Deloitte Report makes further recommendations on process improvements which are in line with Slaintecare. The proposed Regional Health Area for the MidWest will be the smallest in the country and will bring together acute and community services whose operational areas are already aligned. This provides an opportunity to accelerate integrated care pathways; to reduce demand on acute hospitals and to provide care as close as possible to the patient.’
‘We must also plan to increase capacity for scheduled care. Deloitte clearly sets out how emergency demand is adversely affecting patients on waiting lists. In 2021, 83% of bed nights were accounted for by emergency admissions and 574 theatre lists were cancelled due to Covid-19 and the surge in non-Covid emergency care. We have reduced the numbers on waiting lists this year through various government initiatives. This reliance on outsourcing is not sustainable in the long run however as it requires patients to travel outside the region and comes at a significant cost. Deloitte has projected an additional 63 day beds are required by 2036 and we must also add capacity for elective inpatients. This report strengthens the case for an elective hospital in the MidWest.’
Read the full report here.
