The long-awaited Accident & Emergency (A&E) department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has opened its doors to patients for the first time this morning. This new facility will continue to serve the Mid West Region, an area spanning 8,248 km², and which takes in the geographical borders of the combined counties of North Tipperary, Clare, & Limerick.
Grave doubts were cast over the opening of this €24m facility last week when the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) justifiably raised concerns about staffing levels and other measures in place to tackle trolley numbers.
However, following a meeting on Friday last, it is understood that nurses concerns in relation to the immediate appointment of a clinical skills facilitator, as well as resolutions in issues relating to staff rosters and CT scans, were satisfactorily addressed.
Back in November 2016 UHL set a new record for overcrowding for a single hospital, with some 66 patients waiting for admission to its emergency department.
It’s definitely a more comfortable setting for a certain amount of patients, particularly ‘Step Down’ and CDU patients in the department. However there’s still 30 odd patients lying on trolleys which hasn’t changed much from the old A & E. The beds just aren’t there. Also the internal waiting area for walking patients doesn’t have enough seating, as 10-15 people can be standing at any given time. The external waiting area at reception seems to have too many seats, while the internal one does not – this was badly thought out.
I think the last line in the article though should read “waiting for admission to a ward from the Emergency Department”.
I was there yesterday (1st July) with a lump on my neck. I woke up that morning and couldn’t move. Luckily I sleep with my phone in my hand and got a family member to come help me get up. I travelled down to that hospital in severe pain; I couldn’t turn my head to the left. I was seen very quickly by a nurse and doctor, but left waiting hours for a neck specialist to come and try to drain the lump. He never arrived and I was sent home with a prescription for antibiotics and pain killers (yet by that time no pharmacy was open there or in Thurles). Two + hours waiting in Colbert Station for the last train back to Thurles. I left Thurles at 10.00am yesterday and finally got home 13 hours later none the better. The pain is even worse now and I can’t move my neck either to the left or right now at all, without screaming in pain. I’ve been stuck on this bed since 11.00pm I think it’s time we set up a hospital action group here in Thurles demanding the restoration of our district hospital in the town. It’s ridiculous after 10.00pm you can’t even get a doctor out to administer pain relief. Even restoration of acute services in Cashel would go a big way to reducing waiting lists in the south east/mid west region. People wouldn’t have to spend hours travelling to an A & E department miles away in a different county and going home worse than they arrived.
Truly sorry to hear of your predicament Chris. Do hope you are seeing signs of improvement this morning. I fully agree, it is not until people are forced to visit UHL, that they realise the sheer neglect of North Tipperary from a health perspective.