The Limerick Fire Service has considered legal action against University Hospital Limerick in respect of its concerns about fire safety at the Emergency Department in Dooradoyle.
The hospitals group has published correspondence between it and the fire service on the HSE’s website today.
These letters and emails were sent in March, April and May of this year, between the UL Hospitals Group and Limerick City and County Council’s fire service.
In a statement to accompany their publication today, the UL Hospitals Group insists it fully respects the role of the Fire Officer, but adds that the correspondence set out context in how risk is managed in the ED and in the wider hospital.
The letters confirm that a complaint on fire safety grounds was made about the hospital on March 20th, and that a follow up inspection by the fire service found 38 patient on trolleys on aisles in the ED, above the maximum limit of 29.
In it’s own monitoring, the UL Hospitals Group also admits that the maximum number of 79 patients in the whole Department was exceeded three times in April alone. On one occasion, this figure reached 104.
In letters, UL Hospitals Group CEO Colette Cowan outlines the pressures on the local hospitals system, and how this contributes to overcrowding, as well as the steps they’ve taken to relieve pressures.
After further follow-up meetings in early May, she states in another letter that the Fire Service advised it was to applying to the District Court to seek what’s described as “a judicial decision” on UHL’s fire policies.
Limerick’s Chief Fire Officer Michael Ryan responded by saying, in part, that the fire authority would have no option but to take enforcement action if fire safety limits were not adhered to.
The UL Hospitals Group has also stressed today that 62 of its staff have undergone fire training, that it’s continuing to engage with the fire service, and that investments including the provision of a new MRI scanner at Dooradoyle will help with patient flow.
The documentation is available to view in full here
