The Mid West Hospital Campaign Group is expressing disappointment at the ongoing delays and lack of information about the HIQA review into the provision of emergency and urgent care in the Mid-West Region.
HIQA was to complete a review by May of this year as to whether a second Emergency Department is necessary for the Mid West Region and if so where it should be located. The Campaign group were informed yesterday by Cork TD Padraig Rice that the report will not now be completed until September.
University Hospital Limerick(UHL) hosts the only Emergency Department in the Mid West Region serving a population of 450,000 since 3 others were closed in 2009. The hospital reports an 8% increase in Emergency Department attendance for the first five months of 2025 and yesterday the Irish Nurses and MidWives Organisation reported 110 admitted patients on trolleys at the hospital. UHL remains ranked highest nationally for overall emergency department attendances and admissions. 102 admitted patients are on trolleys at UHL today according to the INMO Trolley Watch Report.
The HIQA report was commissioned in the wake of the death of 16 year old Aoife Johnston at UHL in December 2022 at a time of severe and chaotic overcrowding.
HIQA revealed recently that it’s portion of the report is complete but that a section of the research on demand analysis being carried out by outside consultants for the Department of Health is yet to be completed.
