Overcrowding continues to be a problem at local hospitals today 69 patients are on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick today while 12 patients are being cared for on trolleys in TUH in Clonmel. Nationally a total of 352 admitted patients are waiting on beds today.
Frontline staff in UHL are concerned about how the hospital will cope in the Winter months as it struggles to cope with unprecedented August overcrowding as the month began with 110 patients on trolleys on August 1st. SIPTU representative Ger Kennedy says there is real concern amongst it’s members including paramedics and porters. The Mid West Hospital Campaign Group is again calling for a reversal of the closure of EDs in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s hospitals. The group says one ED cannot cater for a regional population of 400,000 people. The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly defends the reconfiguration implemented in 2009 and says a planning application for a new 96 bed block in UHL will be submitted to Limerick Council later this month.
