MINISTER for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has confirmed that all three options proposed from the recent HIQA report to tackle the overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) have been accepted by the government.
The Health Minister announced the news on RTÉ Radio News at One this afternoon.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) presented three options to the Minister in September in its report – which described the situation at the hospital as an ongoing risk to patient safety – in an effort to reduce overcrowding and improve patient safety.
HIQA’s three options at the time included the expansion of capacity at UHL on the Dooradoyle site (Option A), the extension of the UHL campus to a second site in close proximity under a shared governance and resourcing model (Option B), or the development of a new Model 3 hospital in the Mid West to include a new emergency department (Option C).
HIQA was of the view that Options A or B “will likely yield the required inpatient capacity in the Mid West within a shorter timeframe, thereby addressing the immediate risk to patient safety”.
The health watchdog said that while a new Model 3 hospital and ED “may have the potential to meet longer-term bed requirements”, such a move “would be least capable of addressing immediate capacity deficits, while being associated with the longest lead times.”
The September report served as an independent review to inform decision-making on the delivery of urgent and emergency healthcare in the HSE Mid West region, covering Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary.
The hospital is the second most overcrowded in the country today with 56 people waiting on trolleys for an in-hospital bed.
More to follow…