A PROPOSAL to build an elective-only hospital in Limerick through a partnership with UL Hospitals Group and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is now under active consideration.
The discussions with UPMC are taking place against a backdrop of incessant overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick (UHL), which reached record levels at the end of January.
Last week, former HSE Director General Tony O’Brien said that a new elective-only hospital is urgently needed in the Mid West because the University of Limerick Hospitals Group lacks the bed capacity to meet the needs of the population it serves.
Mr O’Brien said that an elective-only hospital needs to be prioritised for the Mid West ahead of anywhere else in the country because there is a shortage of 200 beds in the system and until bed stock is addressed, overcrowding will continue.
The number of patients waiting on trolleys at UHL was so high in recent weeks that the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has asked the HSE for a medium-term solution to the problem.
According to UL Hospitals Group chief clinical director Professor Brian Lenehan, emergency care accounts for 83 per cent of beds at UHL, leaving less than 17 per cent for elective care.
He said that a number of solutions are being considered as the hospital has been in crisis with Covid-19, in addition to extremely high patient numbers.
These include discussions with UPMC, a global nonprofit healthcare enterprise with 40 hospitals and 800 clinical locations including five sites in Ireland.
“We have worked closely in the last year with UPMC and we have a proposal to develop a 150-bed hospital in Coonagh,” said Prof Lenehan.
“The model we are working on is one whereby UPMC would build the hospital. The hospital would then be operated jointly by ourselves and UPMC under the governance of the UL Hospitals Group.
“What we need is an elective or sub-acute hospital, a hospital that is dealing with scheduled care rather than unscheduled care.
“Now that pressures caused by the Covid pandemic are winding down, there is an opportunity to consider strategic options, Prof Lenehan added.
