Patients throughout North Tipperary are facing renewed concerns about access to emergency hospital care after University Hospital Limerick recorded the highest level of overcrowding in the country during July.
North Tipperary’s TDs, namely Mr Michael Lowry, Mr Ryan O’Meara and Mr Alan Kelly, must now press for immediate measures to relieve this overcrowding, strengthen emergency and acute-care capacity across the Mid-West, and ensure that patients from the region can access safe and timely hospital treatment. All above named should raise this escalating crisis at UHL directly with Minister for Health Ms Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and demand a clear, time-bound response.
A total of 2,172 patients were treated on trolleys, chairs or other inappropriate bed spaces at UHL during the month, according to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The Dooradoyle hospital provides the principal 24-hour emergency and critical-care services for the Mid-West, including North Tipperary. The continuing pressure at UHL therefore has direct consequences for patients and families in communities including Nenagh, Roscrea, Newport, Borrisokane and surrounding areas.
Nationally, 10,394 admitted patients were left waiting for hospital beds during July. It was the first July on record in which the figure exceeded 10,000.
UHL accounted for more than one-fifth of the national total and remained by far the most overcrowded hospital in Ireland. University Hospital Galway recorded 919 patients on trolleys during July, while the figure at Sligo University Hospital was 800.
The INMO has called on the Health Service Executive to treat the situation at UHL as a major incident and to deploy all resources necessary to the hospital.
INMO General Secretary Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the overcrowding experienced this summer represented a serious warning ahead of the traditionally difficult autumn and winter period.
She said senior HSE decision-makers should be present at UHL throughout the bank holiday weekend and in the weeks ahead to oversee the response.
The union’s intervention comes as people have been advised to consider other care options, before attending the UHL Emergency Department, except in cases involving serious illness, major injury or a life-threatening emergency.
For North Tipperary residents, however, the continuing problems highlight the limited emergency-care options available within the region. While services such as the Injury Unit and Medical Assessment Unit at Nenagh Hospital can treat certain patients, those requiring emergency or complex acute care may still have to travel to UHL.
The INMO also warned that sustained overcrowding, staff shortages and increasing workloads are placing nurses and midwives under relentless pressure.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha said healthcare workers were being asked to provide care in conditions that would previously have been considered unimaginable during the summer months. She also accused employers of failing to provide sufficient support following critical incidents and of compromising staff health and wellbeing.
On Friday morning, a further 362 admitted patients were waiting without beds in hospitals across the country.
The record July figures are likely to intensify calls for additional hospital capacity, staffing and emergency-care services for North Tipperary and the wider Mid-West region.
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