508 admitted patients are waiting for beds in the nation’s hospitals today, according to the latest data from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
University Hospital Limerick(UHL) accounts for over 22% of the patients on trolleys today with 114 patients receiving care on trolleys as severe overcrowding persists at the hospital.
The HSE appointed a new acting CEO for the hospital group last week as it confirmed that the existing CEO Ms Collette Cowan is to go on a period of leave. Ms Sonya Cotter took up responsibility for the six hospitals in the group yesterday. The Mid West Hospital Campaign Group says the reconfiguration of hospitals in the region in 2009 is a failure and wants accident and emergency service restored to either Nenagh, Ennis or St John’s hospital to alleviate the pressure on UHL.
The new HSE Regional Executive Officer for the Mid-West Sandra Broderick is seeking extra funding to enable nightingale wards at the hospital to be remodeled and kept in service when a new 96 bed block comes currently under construction comes in to use,possibly in 2024, to rapidly increase acute bed capacity in UHL.
