HSE MidWest insists the six facilities under the remit of the UL Hospitals Group are consistently compliant with safe staffing levels.
It comes as the organisation has given a renewed commitment to open a second new 96 bed block at University Hospital Limerick by 2027.
In the aftermath of the long weekend, UHL is by far the most overcrowded hospital in the country today, with 93 patients recorded on trolleys by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation there this morning.
The figure is almost double that of the next busiest facility; University Hospital Galway, where 47 patients were waiting for a bed.
HSE MidWest insists it’s committed to tackling these issues and will heed all recommendations of it’s newly founded programme improvement board, on which North Clare health campaigner John Wall has been appointed Patient Advocate.
Regional Executive Officer Sandra Broderick says the HSE will consult and be held accountable to the public along every step of improving services over the coming years.
In a wide ranging interview on Clare FM’s Morning Focus, the MidWest REO has also pointed to some of the actions that have already been taken, as well as others in the pipeline.
This includes an application for planning permission to convert a building in the Raheen Industrial Estate, which was previously the home of UL Hospitals Group management, into an outpatient clinic.
A recruitment process is also underway to bring between 60 and 70 new staff on stream at UHL to facilitate the opening of 16 new replacement beds in December and this is in the latter stages.
HSE MidWest is also commissioning a capacity report of the Dooradoyle Campus to see if it can be developed further.
Sandra Broderick also says the first new 96 bed block will be delivered on target in 2025 and that the second should follow two years later.
Just three weeks ago, 325 patients presented to the Emergency Department at UHL in a single day, which at one new presentation every 4.5 minutes, was a record for an Irish Hospital.
HSE MidWest is currently preparing its submission for HIQA’s impending review that will establish if another Emergency Department is needed in the region.
Addressing recent controversies over staffing at UHL, Sandra Broderick stated the UL Hospitals Group is “consistently compliant” with safe staffing levels and that plans to recruit 400 staff for each new hospital block are in progress.
Pointing to improvements, the Regional Executive Officer says that although 500 patients, on average, fail to turn up for outpatient appointments every month in the MidWest, the region has now achieved the best waiting list times in the country.
You can listen to the full interview here:
