A NEW 96-bed block has opened to patients at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) where chronic patent overcrowding has continued across recent weeks and months.
The additional bed capacity is the first of three proposed 96-bed blocks at the hospital.
Most of the beds were open today (Tuesday), however it was expected that all 96 beds would be available Wednesday, the HSE said.
UHL provides the only 24-hour emergency department (ED) in the Mid West region, including Limerick, Clare, north Tipperary, but also receives patients from parts of north Cork and north Kerry.
The HSE Mid West confirmed this Tuesday (October 7) that Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will officially open the newly constructed unit, which will consist of four wards of 24 beds, next Monday (October 13).
“We expect that all four new additional wards will be operational by Wednesday October 8th,” said a HSE Mid West spokesman.
“We wish to express our thanks to all staff for their hard work in recent weeks in preparing for this significant expansion in inpatient bed capacity.
“Just under 400 whole-time equivalent additional staff are being recruited to support the opening of the new beds, the majority of whom are now in post.”
“Recruitment is ongoing to fill the remaining posts,” added the spokesman.
There were 84 patients left waiting on trolleys in the UHL ED and other wards this Tuesday morning, according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
Last week, a review of emergency healthcare in the region, undertaken by government health watchdog HIQA, recommended a number of options for increasing bed capacity and reducing the risk to patient safety from overcrowding, which included the construction of an additional hospital or extending the UHL site either on of off the hospital’s Dooradoyle campus.
HIQA also called for enhanced pre-hospital emergency care services to reduce demand at the consistently overcrowded Limerick ED.
The government’s Acute Hospital Inpatient Bed Capacity Expansion Plan, published in 2024, said the Mid West region required 382 additional hospital beds by 2031.
A report by Deloitte, and commissioned by UHL in 2022, said a total of 365 beds, including 302 extra inpatient beds and 63 day care beds, were required to meet demand in the region.
