UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick treated more than 23,000 admitted patients on trolleys across 2024, by far the highest number of any hospital in the country.
According to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which records the national trolley figures each day in hospitals around the country, there were 23,203 patients treated on trolleys in UHL across the 12 months of 2024.
This compares to Cork University Hospital, with the second highest figures in the country, where 13,162 admitted patients were treated on trolleys while waiting for a bed.
In 2023, UHL had 21,445 patient on trolleys, a figure substantially highest than the 18,028 in 2022 – the year that Shannon teenager Aoife Johnston died after being brought to the emergency department (ED) with suspected sepsis, an event which former chief justice Frank Clarke deemed “almost certainly avoidable” in his report into the 16-year-old’s death.
Having carried out in-depth interviews and prepared the report at the request of the HSE, Mr Clarke concluded that “all of the evidence seems to me to confirm that these risks (which contributed to Ms Johnston’s death) will not be further minimised without addressing the fundamental problem of overcrowding in ED.”
Mr Clarke said the position in UHL ED “is inextricably linked with the overall capacity of the hospital”.
He said on many occasions patients are “boarded” in the ED “simply because there are no beds to which they can be moved” in the hospital.
As a result of that challenge, Mr Clarke warned that a repeat of the tragedy in December 2022 “will inevitably be present”.
“Unless and until that problem is addressed, then it seems likely that UHL ED will, unfortunately but regularly, be under pressure and, despite the improvements introduced since 2022, a risk of reoccurrence will inevitably be present.”
There is currently a disciplinary process under way in the hospital concerning members of staff who were involved in the care and decision making about the Shannon schoolgirl.
Over the last week, attendance numbers at the Limerick ED and emergency departments country wide have been rising as a surge of flu and respiratory ailments has the nation in its grip.
On December 30, there were 108 admitted patients on trolleys and overflow wards waiting for a bed in the hospital.
Meanwhile, visitor restrictions have been introduced at UHL and a number of other hospitals as infection numbers increase.
A total of 1,017 people were recorded as having the flu in hospital on New Year’s Eve. CEO of the Health Service Executive Bernard Gloster confirmed that 62 of the 1,017 patients hospitalised with flu are being treated in ICUs nationally – 25 of whom are on ventilators.
And while it was thought that the wave of infections may have peaked during to post-New Year period, there are concerns as children return to school that a resurgence could be on the way.
