The UL Hospitals Group is asking members of the public to consider all alternative options amid sustained high attendance at the Emergency Department.
The MidWest Region’s main facility remains the most overcrowded in the country with 325 patients having been recorded on trolleys at Dooradoyle so far this week.
Less acutely unwell patients are being warned of long waits for treatment at the Emergency Department at UHL today as hospitals across the region experience high demand for unscheduled care.
During the month of April, average daily attendances at the department were 227, compared with the 195 recorded in 2019, the last full year prior to the pandemic.
This trend has continued into May as hospital staff experienced five particularly busy days over the long bank holiday weekend, with 276 patients attending last Friday, followed by 195 on Saturday, 184 on Sunday, 199 on the bank holiday Monday and 264 on Tuesday.
This morning, they say, there were 69 admitted patients waiting for a bed at UHL outside of designated bed spaces.
A small number of surgical patients have had their procedures at UHL deferred in order to prioritise the sickest patients in the region coming through the Emergency Department.
The UL Hospitals group has apologised to all impacted patients and is appealing to anyone with less urgent conditions to first consider local Injury Units, GPs, out-of-hours GP services and pharmacists before attending ED.
Meanwhile the region’s model 2 hospitals have also expanded their Medical Assessment Unit service and slots are now available for GPs to refer appropriate medical patients seven days a week at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s.
