A NEW health plan must deliver 288 acute inpatient beds for University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and deliver an elective facility for the wider Mid West region.
That’s according to a new health manifesto on how to fix the Mid West health services launched by Sinn Féin in Limerick on Friday (May 3).
The manifesto outlines how the party plans to establish the full need for additional emergency department capacity in the region and review the 2009 closure of emergency departments in Ennis and Nenagh.
Key to to the plan is ending the HSE’s “dangerous recruitment embargo” and expanding staffing across primary, community, and hospital services to tackle lengthy waiting lists, while bolstering out-of-hours GP care and deliver a “Pharmacy First” minor ailments scheme.
The plan also aims to increase the number of GP trainee entrants from 350 to 450, and support the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) to expedite training where appropriate, and initially increase training places across medical, nursing, and allied health and social care professions by 20 per cent (over 1,300 places)
The Sinn Fein fix-it plan would seek to double the recruitment target in the Mid West for 2024 to expand multi-disciplinary primary and enhanced community care teams and develop modern GP contracts, including a public-only contract.
Increased use of nursing and advanced practice therapy grades across primary care services to support the development of multi-disciplinary teams is also on the cards, while the party would advocate employing GPs and additional primary care staff to cover emerging blackspots where the existing practice model is unviable, and launch a pilot scheme for out-of-hours and locum support.
Sinn Féin also wants to improve access to primary care out-of-hours services, including mental health services for rural, disadvantaged, and traveller communities.
Limerick TD Maurice Quinlivan said the party has plans to address the current crisis at UHL.
The plan was launched by Deputy Quinlivan and Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane TD.
Speaking at the launch Deputy Quinlivan said that “when you knock on doors, talk to people in the street or on the phone, the primary topic of conversation is UHL.”
“Nearly every family in the Mid West has a story to tell about their experience at UHL. The medical professionals do an incredible job but the situation at the hospital is chaotic.
“The recent news cycle has brought home to many just how dangerous the long waiting times and trolley numbers are for patients. Unfortunately, if there is not fundamental change at the hospital, such a tragedy will happen again.”
Addressing the Sinn Féin plan, Deputy Quinlivan said that “the Mid West and Limerick deserves a real joined up plan, not more crisis-driven responses, and that is what we are proposing today”.
“It’s time for a minister who will get ahead of the problem instead of making it up as he goes along. Our plan is ambitious, but it is achievable.”
