death by geography - Thurles Information

Some 108 Patients Without A Hospital Bed In Tipperary Today

“The silence is deafening; the inaction demonstrates sheer abandonment by Councillors and Politicians”.

Limerick University Hospital, Dooradoyle, serving North Tipperary Area.

Patients sent to hospitals servicing Co. Tipperary can expect to be in for a long waiting time today. The Emergency Departments at South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel and University Hospital Dooradoyle, Co. Limerick, latter which services North Tipperary, has 40 people and 68 people (Total 108 persons), respectively waiting for a bed. The INMO confirm today that both building are once again the most overcrowded hospitals in Ireland.

The hospital with the worst level of overcrowding in March of this year (2019), was again University Hospital Limerick, with 1,054 people left without a bed.

In view of all this; whatever about sitting TD’s, I personally can’t see dreams coming through for Fine Gael’s Mrs Mary Newman Jullian (Mary For Tipperary) and Mr Garret Ahearn (A New ERA in Tipperary), at the next General Election, despite attending in the crowd at the recent ‘An Post’ protest March in Liberty Square, Thurles, last Friday.

Maybe it is time for another protest march in Liberty Square, this time to demand action on hospital beds for North Tipperary patients.

For “Death By Geography For Tipperary Dwellers”, (Dated Oct. 2016) do please click HERE.

UPDATE April 3rd 2019: New record claimed by University Hospital Limerick, servicing North Tipperary: Eighty one (81) patients without a bed in their facility today; the highest daily figure ever recorded for ‘waiting for a bed’ in an Irish hospital. Someone call Guinness Book Of Records.

Meanwhile, today April 3rd 2019, serving South Co. Tipperary; South Tipp General hospital has forty patients being cared for on their corridors; in their Emergency Department or in overflow areas, again without a bed. A total altogether of 121 patients for within the county.

The Silence Continues.

Mid-West Hospital Campaign – 11,000 Protesters March On Limerick Streets Today.

“Front-line workers are working under immense pressure, under immense strain and they are extremely courageous. The least we can do is give them the tools, the training and the environments in which they can do that work at the safest possible level”.

Above quote from the lips of Dr Mike Ryan, latter current Executive Director Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO).

For years, University Hospital Limerick has been the most overcrowded hospital in our Irish Republic, with a record of 18,028 patients waiting on trolleys and on trolleys in wards, during 2022, according to reliable figures provided by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), based on their 5-day trolley and ward count.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes – Who shall keep the keepers themselves?

As our elected Tipperary politicians decorate their social media pages; each attempting to associate themselves with greatness, based on the recent personal hard work and well deserved successes of other individuals; e.g. Winners of American Golden Globe Awards, GAA match parish triumphs & Irish BT Young Scientist & Technology award winners; University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and Nenagh Hospital, both medical facilities serving North Tipperary, have during their tenure as TD’s, been left unrepresented; disrespected; ignored and totally neglected.

One would have believed that same of our politicians, if fully awake, would have seen the writing on the wall, when on April 21st last 2022, all records were broken when 126 patients waited on trolleys; the highest ever daily figure since 2006.

In the last 14 days we have listened and read press releases from our politicians, (written by those with lesser authority than themselves), criticizing HSE officials and staff with regards over-crowding conditions at our hospitals.

Do you hear the people sing?

“Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!”

[Extract from song written by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, “Do you hear the people sing?” – Les Miserables]

Meanwhile, a protest held in Limerick city today, organised by the Mid-West Hospital Campaign, together with Friends of Ennis Hospital and groups representing Nenagh Hospital, saw some 11,000 people take to the streets of the city.

Two separate, one minute silences, were observed during the protest; one for to remember the 126 people who were left waiting on trolleys last April, same the highest daily figure ever recorded at the UHL facility; the second in memory of a Co. Clare teenager, Ms Aoife Johnston, who sadly died from meningitis last month at UHL, after allegedly spending a significant period of time on a hospital trolley.

Protesters carried pictures of their loved ones today, latter who were left frightened and nervous due extreme overcrowded conditions, and alas some others who passed away at the medical facility.

Protesters stated they were exceedingly angry and fearful that this overcrowding has been allowed to continue and are seeking a reversal of the decision taken in 2009, under a Fianna Fáil government, to downgrade the 24-hour services at Nenagh Hospital, Co. Tipperary; Ennis Hospital Co. Clare, and St John’s Hospital, Co. Limerick.

Similar smaller protests took place elsewhere around the country today, with protesters sending a similar message to both the Government and the Health Service Executive, stating that they were no longer going to tolerate a health system which has, for far too long, been ignored and mismanaged.

13,941 Patients Without A Bed At UHL In 2019

Some 118,367 patients found themselves without a hospital bed in 2019, according to an end-of-year analysis supplied by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). Of those affected patients, some 1,300 were children under the age of 16 years.

The figures clearly demonstrate that in 2019 we saw a rise of some 9% above similar figures produced in 2018, making it the worst-ever year for hospital overcrowding, since records initially began.

The worst month for overcrowding, during 2019, was November with 12,055 without a hospital bed. Figures for the months of October and September remained nothing to write home about either, with same analysis showing 11,452 and 10,641 patients, respectively, experiencing similar difficulties.

To the shame of our elected representatives here in Co. Tipperary, the worst-hit hospital in the state, in 2019, was University Hospital Limerick, with 13,941 patients left waiting, latter serving the residents of North Tipperary. Same hospital is situated some 79 kilometres (49 miles) from Thurles, via the M7, or some 1 hour & 10 minutes driving time, subject to traffic density.

South Tipperary General Hospital, serving the south of the county, had 6,942 patients in 2019 without a hospital bed.

The INMO end-of-year analysis conclude that under-staffing and the lack of bed capacity remain the key drivers when it comes to overcrowding. They point out that 411 fewer in-patient beds exist here in Ireland’s hospitals today, than existed a decade ago, despite our emerging larger and older population.

Patients Moved From UHL’s Emergency Dept. Following Surprise Visit By Fire Officer

Patients forced to lie on trolleys have been transferred out of University Hospital Limerick’s (UHL) overcrowded Emergency Department, following an unannounced inspection by Limerick City Fire Authority and Limerick City and Co. Fire & Rescue Service.

A senior fire officer made an unannounced visit at UHL on Tuesday night, after concerns had been raised regarding the number of trolleys located in corridors in their Emergency Department.

On Monday last, November 25 2019 we reported that 85 patients had been recorded on trolleys, of which 55 were in the Emergency Department and 35 others were on wards.

We understand that following the fire officer’s visit, eight patients, without beds, were transferred from the Emergency Department out to a Surgical Assessment Unit, between midnight on Tuesday and 1:00am on this morning.

On average it is fully accepted that people resident in rural areas have to travel three times as far, for most of their everyday services, but here in the case of Thurles, people forced to attend UHL must travel 81km, while elsewhere for the most part, A&E’s are at just 50km from any one base.

The overcrowded conditions within the Limerick facility were regarded as “unsafe” for both patients and those staff attending.

Tipperary elected TD’s, of all political affiliations, need to be fully aware that the people of North Tipperary; latter forced to depend on an under staffed University Hospital Limerick as their medical facility, are no longer amused.

In 2009, despite massive protests and medical advice, all 24-hour emergency department services in Nenagh; Ennis and St. Johns were centralised to University Hospital Limerick, in the case of Thurles, some 1 hour & 20 minutes drive by ambulance.

A €19.5m temporary 60-bed block, currently being built on UHL hospital grounds, is now not expected to be staffed and operational before 2021.

Tipperary politicians have failed, totally, to highlighting the seriousness of UHL’s predicament; choosing instead to fool their electorate, by enhancing personal profiles; through being found photographed standing beside real successful people, and with many failing to even turn up at their place of work, which should be Dáil Éireann.

Perhaps the time has come to borrow a few tractors from local farmers and block the streets of Dublin.

Rural Ireland Once More Left Without Proper Medical Facilities

This Monday morning, November 25th 2019, University Hospital Limerick has, as accuratly forecast, set a new national overcrowding record, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The INMO state that there are 85 patients being treated on trolleys in UHL’s Dooradoyle emergency department and in its associated wards. In South Tipperary General Hospital, serving South Tipperary, some 24 patients are without a bed.

For the third time in the last 12 months, UHL, servicing the medical requirements of the residence of North Tipperary, has set new records and the fourth instance since back in 2012.

Despite the best efforts of local staff, this situation in Limerick continues to escalate. The previous record was set on October 2nd 2019, with 82 patients on trolleys; again, on April 2rd /3rd with 81 patients on trolleys, matching that same record on July 11th, September 23rd and on October 2nd.