THE county’s public healthcare crisis is not just confined to University Hospital Limerick, as overcrowding in Croom Orthopaedic Hospital is also “a serious issue”.
That’s the view of Sinn Féin councillor Séighin Ó Ceallaigh who said he was absolutely shocked by the conditions affecting both staff and patients when he visited the hospital last week.
“The staff were doing their utmost to try and accommodate people, but unfortunately the facilities were not there to treat people in the outpatients clinic,” he told the Limerick Post.
“The waiting room for the outpatients clinic can seat about ten people, but there were around 25 waiting to be seen, some of whom were waiting two to three hours for a scheduled appointment. The worst part was seeing people in crutches being forced to stand because of the lack of seating in the waiting room. The halls were packed with people, including the elderly and children, it simply wasn’t safe nor acceptable,” he claimed.
He went on to say that he doesn’t believe that in the current “orchestrated health crisis, designed to encourage people to pay private for healthcare, that it’s too much to ask to treat people with some respect and provide seating for them in the hospital waiting room”.
In response, UL Hospitals Group stated, “Croom Orthopaedic Hospital is over 100 years old, and while the building has some shortcomings because of its age and infrastructure, a plan for development of a new theatre and outpatients suite is contained in the current capital development plan.
€15 million has been sought to progress this capital development and we are hopeful that a mid-year capital review by the Department of Health will provide funding to commence design and enabling works.
“The staff in Croom work very hard to ensure the patient and their families are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve and the results of a recent patient satisfaction survey have reassured us that our patients acknowledge this, feedback from patients was very positive.
“We continue to deliver the best quality care possible within the infrastructure available and work to ensure that the services are as efficient as possible at all times.
“Croom Orthopaedic Hospital has seen 5,471 outpatients to July 2017 and has had over 900 inpatients to date this year.
“The majority of patients are assessed before surgery to minimise their hospital length of stay. Sometimes if a patient is waiting 3 to 4 hours it may be because they are having several treatments or procedures during their visit, for example, x-ray with a cast removed and re-applied for example,” the statement concluded.
by Alan Jacques
