MEMBERS of the Mid West Hospital Campaign (MWHC) have raised concerns that while claims have been made that Professor Colette Cowan, CEO of UL Hospitals Group, has allegedly stepped aside temporarily from her position pending the results of an investigation, there may be others facing potential disciplinary action still working in the hospital.
The MWHC issued a statement in the wake of a story printed in the Sunday Independent this week claiming that Prof Cowan has stepped aside pending disciplinary action relating to the events that occurred in the emergency department (ED) of the hospital December 19, 2022, when Shannon teenager Aoife Johnson died there.
The MWHC said that while it would welcome Prof Cowan stepping aside, “we are concerned that there are others facing action who we presume are still operating within the hospital and UL Hospitals Group. This is of concern to us.”
The statement said that the events of December 2022 “did not happen in isolation. There have been many families who have suffered in that ED as a result of overcrowding both before that date and sadly since.”
‘Subhuman conditions’
Melanie Cleary, whose daughter Eve died in July 2019 having being discharged from the UHL ED with a blood clot in her lung, said that “the voices of the people of Clare, Limerick, and North Tipperary have long been ignored in their efforts to raise awareness of the appalling and subhuman conditions for patients who have had to attend the ED and wait for hours and even days”.
The group recognised “the difficulties for staff having to work in such an environment where patients are treated with no dignity, respect, care, or compassion, often with no access to a toilet”.
Members said their fears for safety in the hospital are further increased by recent decisions made by Stephen Donnelly, HSE, and UHL management, including the decision “to cancel many appointments and surgeries with a day’s notice”.
“These cancellations began on the 7th of August 2024 and to date are still ongoing. There has been a notable absence of comment from TDs and senators and the huge impact it is having on so many people right across the region.”
Meanwhile, the campaign says, plans to take over 70 nursing home beds in Clare and Tipperary as step-down beds to take the pressure off UHL are taking much needed care and respite facilities from family careers with “no clear indications of what is being provided in terms of rehabilitation and staffing”.
“It is yet another way of reducing trolley numbers at UHL. It would also seem to give the impression that great strides have been made by HSE management in reducing those numbers at UHL where it is in fact just shifting the problems elsewhere.”
When asked for a comment on the hospital campaign’s statement, a spokesman for UHL said that none would be forthcoming.
