PATIENTS will only be transferred from the consistently overcrowded University Hospital Limerick (UHL) to vacant beds at the nearby St John’s Hospital only when it is deemed safe to do so.
Fine Gael Senator Kieran O’Donnell said he was informed there were ten vacant beds this morning at St John’s on Monday morning when there were 50 patients waiting for beds at UHL.
Both are managed by the UL Hospitals Group, which also includes the University Maternity Hospital Limerick; Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis; Nenagh General Hospital; and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital.
Of the 50 patients awaiting beds at UHL, 23 were on trolleys in the emergency department and 27 on trolleys on wards.
Senator O’Donnell said he contacted the UL Hospitals Group asking management to confirm if transfers would take place to St John’s to take up the ten vacant beds.
He said management later informed him that the vacant beds would be filled if the clinicians deemed it safe to transfer the patients,
otherwise they would be filled through St John’s Medical Assessment Unit (MAU).
However, a UL Hospitals Group spokesman told the Limerick Post on Monday evening that there were six beds available at St John’s Hospital at 8am that morning.
“As occurs every day, patients from UHL will be transferred to St John’s following a clinical decision and in line with national policy on which patients are appropriate to be cared for in Model 2 hospitals.”
“At 11am this morning, there were three patients identified for transfer. St John’s Hospital, as is the norm, will have admissions from their own medical assessment unit which is fully operational today.”
“Where patients are identified as suitable for an inter-hospital transfer, that transfer is only effected once all the necessary arrangements have been agreed between the clinical teams and bed management at both the transferring and receiving hospital.”
“On a typical day at UL Hospitals Group, approximately 15 patients are transferred from UHL to the Model 2 hospitals at St John’s, Ennis and Nenagh,” the spokesman added.
On Sunday, Tanaiste Simon Coveney promised Fine Gael would “fix the trolley crisis by making further investment in beds and staff”.
Speaking outside Thomond Park, Mr Coveney told reporters: “Because of a strong growing economy, we now can make realistic financial commitments to add extra beds, extra staff into the system, and fix, once and for all, the accident and emergency pressures we are seeing in Limerick.”
A 60-bed modular unit is currently being built on the grounds of UHL, and management has sought a further 96-bed unit.
