The latest news comes as it was also revealed that the hospital is €15 million over budget and figures show that there were 94 patients on trolleys in the emergency department over a five day period last week.
Commenting on the Healthstat news, a spokesperson for the HSE said that there are “many other” indicators of the performance of the health services.
“It is recognised that the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick has been operating at above full occupancy for an extended period. Such a situation is neither desirable nor efficient. To address these issues management have put together a series of actions which are designed to improve patient throughput and these actions are ongoing,” the spokesperson said.
“To further assist patient flow we will shortly introduce an acute medical programme which will mean the establishment of a 17 bed acute medical unit, due to open in mid January 2012. It will reduce pressure on the Emergency Department, and improve access to services for adults who present with a wide range of medical conditions. It will also provide a dedicated location for rapid assessment, diagnosis by senior doctors and commencement of appropriate treatment,” he added.
Addressing the levels of absenteeism, the spokesperson said these are being tackled and concerning finances, the €15 million over run is an improvement on the €20 million which the books showed at the end of May.
Area manager Bernard Gloster commented, “On the publication of the October accounts I expect the September position to have been substantially improved and we are working towards a position at the end of the current year which should, at minimum, be no worse than the position at the end of 2010 whilst acknowledging we had a substantial budget reduction in 2011”.
