HSE BOSS Bernard Gloster has said that having a GP on hand in the Emergency Department (ED) at University Hospital Limerick is one measure among plans to try to alleviate pressure on the department.
And the CEO appealed at a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee this week to consultants at University Hospital Limerick to switch to a new contract to help deliver better services.
Answering a question about how the crisis in the ED can be tackled, he told Senator Martin Conway plans include stationing a GP in the Emergency Department who could possibly help triage patients and diagnose whether they would need further hospital treatment.
“It will start on a test basis, if it proves itself to be efficient and working, I’m hoping to make available the resource to make it 24-hour but there may be a pressure in staffing it,” he said.
Speaking about signing up for the new Sláintecare contracts, Mr Gloster said that he is “disappointed” that just 34 of UHL’s consultants have signed up, while 1,543 consultants nationally have switched.
The new Sláintecare contract will see hospital consultants cover more weekends and evenings, with doctors able to switch from their existing contracts.
Among other options being considered are whether the so-called multi-occupancy ‘Nightingale’ wards at UHL should be renovated rather than closed as medical beds when the new bed-block is completed.
He told the Committee members that recent trolley figures at the hospital, where between 100 and 140 admitted patients have been left waiting for a bed are “unacceptable.”
Medical Assessment Units at Ennis and Nenagh will operate 24-hours a day, and this is an option being considered for St John’s in Limerick city, Mr Gloster said.
The CEO outlined plans to temporarily operate a new nursing home in Nenagh as a sub-acute unit for UHL to help alleviate bed demand pressures.
Chief clinical officer with the HSE, Dr Colm Henry said there is no evidence to support revising clinical advice to close EDs in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s hospitals.
He warned that the smaller hospitals do not have the capability to cope with serious health emergencies and there is risk that patients would lose vital time going to the wrong hospital.
