A damning report into facilities at University Hospital Limerick has led to renewed calls for the restoration of full accident and emergency cover at Ennis General.
The Health Information and Quality Authority says the A&E Unit at Dooradoyle is not fit for purpose, and described delays there as 'unacceptable'.
It's also called for a greater use of local injuries units at Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Hospitals – the UL Hospitals Group insists it has taken steps to alleviate overcrowding.
Ennis area Fianna Fáil Councillor Tom McNamara says this should also include the restoration of full A&E care at the county hospital.
Separately, a new report has highlighted delays in the amount of time that ambulances have had to wait to discharge patients at hospital emergency departments.
Figures from the National Ambulance Service shows that most ambulance crews waited longer than the HSE target of 20 minutes to hand over patients, while nearly one in ten waited for more than an hour.
The longest total delays were at University Hospital Limerick, where ambulances spent nearly 668 hours parked outside the hospital in April alone.
