THE INMO trolley watch figures released today are yet again truly appalling. There is no discernible fall in those on trolleys from last year despite a new 60 Bed Modular unit in operation. 942 people down slightly from 969 last year is nothing to celebrate.
Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has again urged the Government to take steps to address overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick.
The Sinn Féin TD commented:
“Year on year, month on month and day on day this hospital consistently has the highest number of patients on trolleys. I have raised this issue with the Minister for Health and other government ministers consistently since I was firstly elected in 2016. And I am not the only one. Yet, nothing not a scintilla of change is offered by the Department of health to properly address this issue. This month’s July figures are the 3rd highest ever recorded in UHL.”
The Limerick Deputy continued: “Since the beginning of 2021, 6,462 people have been treated on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick. University Hospital Limerick is consistently the hospital with the highest number of patients being treated on trolleys.
Deputy Quinlivan concluded his comments by stating:
“Everywhere we look in the health service, from waiting lists to Covid-19 to the cyberattack, there is a fire to be put out and an emergency to be tackled. It is limping from crisis to crisis, which only fails patients and staff. UHL is unfortunately always on top of the trolley List.”
“The trolley crisis in Limerick has been ongoing for years and without direct intervention from the Government it will unfortunately continue. As part of the solutions to address the overcrowding and Trolley crisis in UHL we have long been promised a new 96 -bed unit. While we in Limerick appreciate that this was not some panacea to the issues the hospital faced, we thought it would alleviate some of the pressures on staff and patients.
“We also learned recently from the local HSE, that instead of 96 new beds the unit will only create some 48 new beds. This will condemn people in Limerick and the Mid-West to years of further trolley crisis if more capacity is not delivered. Clearly unless there is a sea change in Government policy Limerick people will continue to linger on trolleys in unacceptable numbers for years to come. The INMO have called for an urgent intervention in UHL and an independent investigation and I support both those calls. Doing nothing about the trolley crisis is not acceptable and the Minister must step up the plate and personally intervene”
