St. John’s voluntary Hospital Limerick, a member of the UL Hospitals Group , has today unveiled expansion plans including a proposal for a 150 bed on-site extension being built at the rear of the existing hospital.
The management at St John’s say the proposal addresses the necessary capacity requirement to tackle public waiting lists by accommodating a very significant proportion of the scheduled care work in the region. St. John’s already has the 6th busiest endoscopy list and 12th busiest elective surgery list in the country, as well as the second busiest Injury Unit in the country. There have been calls for a new hospital to be built in Limerick that would deal only with elective care. The 150 unit is estimated to cost 60 million euros and this funding has not been approved as of now.
The new facility will deliver an additional 31,390 bed days per annum in the Limerick region and meet HIQA and national antimicrobial resistance standards for Infection. It will also result in a total of 667 additional full time equivalent jobs, via direct and indirect employment, in the regional economy through the activity of St. John’s Hospital, including 52 new jobs in St John’s Hospital comprising frontline clinicians and support roles.
The project has an estimated completion time from capital approval of 36 months and meets green criteria for sustainability. St. John’s currently employs 350 people. University Hospital Limerick has experienced severe overcrowding since the HSE closed emergency departments in Nenagh, Ennis and St Johns leading to frequent cancellations in planned care at the hospital.
