THE HSE is seeking to rent floorspace at the private Bon Secours Limerick (BSL) in Ballysimon to cater for public patients attending at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) due to persistent and dangerous patient overcrowding there.
Discussions are underway between the two hospitals to finalise a plan that the HSE hopes will ease pressure on the public system at UHL.
UHL has consistently been the most overcrowded hospital nationally in recent years, and has been the subject of internal HSE reviews following a number of patient deaths that occurred during severe overcrowding conditions.
The €213million private BSL opened last September and its peaceful surroundings are a stark contrast to the often chaotic nature of the public hospital system.
In response to a query from this reporter, a HSE spokesman said that “HSE Mid West and Bon Secours Limerick (BSL) have been in discussions about transfer of appropriate patients to BSL to alleviate pressure on UHL during periods of peak demand”.
“It is hoped an agreement will be finalised in the coming weeks.”
The HSE Mid West added that “as discussions are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further”.
Overcrowding issues have persisted at UHL despite the addition of a €105million 96-bed unit on the hospital grounds last October.
Last December the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the Government would implement the three options put forward by health watchdog HIQA to ease UHL’s patient overcrowding crisis.
These include the further expansion of capacity at UHL at its present site at Dooradoyle; an extension of the UHL campus on a second site nearby under a shared governance and resourcing model; and the development of a new Model 3 hospital in the Mid West region, to include a new emergency department (ED).
24 hour EDs were closed at Ennis, St Johns, and Nenagh hospitals in 2009 and reconfigured to UHL after the Government implemented a plan to make UHL a “Centre of Excellence”.
However, the redevelopment of the ED at UHL in 2017 failed to adequately cater for the high attendances from around the Mid West, north Cork and north Kerry.
On Wednesday morning UHL was again the most overcrowded hospital nationally, according to stats from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s Trolley Watch count.
Of the 734 patients waiting for a bed on trolleys nationally on Wednesday morning, 30 per cent (127) were waiting for a bed at UHL.
Bon Secours Limerick was contacted for comment but did not reply at time of going to print.