The Health Minister has demanded answers as to why overcrowding has increased at University Hospital Limerick.
Minister Simon Harris has written to management questioning the rising trolley numbers since the opening of its new emergency department.
The 24 million euro ED opened at Dooradoyle in May, and while hospital management acknowledged at the time that it wouldn’t improve overcrowding, trolley numbers have hit record highs since.
Now, it has emerged that Minister Harris wrote to hospital management asking them to outline the reasons for this.
The Irish Examiner reports that in an email in July, he said that 27 on trolleys on a summer day “is far too high and a cause of significant concern.”
In response, CEO of the UL Hospitals Group, Colette Cowan outlined a 5% spike in attendances, which is lower than expected, based on the opening of similar facilities elsewhere.
She said the hospital faced a “challenged environment with high activity and low bed stock”.
A new 17-bed short stay ward has since opened in a newly refurbished section of the old ED, while funding has been granted for the design phase of a new 96-bed unit.
