THE HSE is in negotiations with a private hospital, tied to a major US Catholic health ministry, to try to tackle crisis patient overcrowding at the University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
The plan would see some patients at UHL treated and cared for at the €213m private Bon Secours Hospital Limerick (BSL), which opened in September 2024.
The proposed patient transfer system would apply at peak times when attendances can be dangerously high at UHL, in order to free up capacity the hospital – which has the only 24-hour emergency department (ED) for a catchment of more than 400,000 persons across Limerick, Clare, north Tipperary, and parts of north Cork and north Kerry.
Out of the 637 admitted patients waiting for a bed nationally this Friday (February 6), 107 were on trolleys at UHL on corridors in the ED and on wards elsewhere, according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
- External Walls: Up to €8,000 Grant
- Attic: Up to €1,500 Grant
- Cavity Walls: Up to €1,700 Grant
- Internal Dry Lining: Up to €4,500 Grant
HSE TrolleyGAR figures showed, however, 55 admitted patients waiting on trolleys at UHL.
The BSL is run by the Bon Secours Health System, a not for profit CLG (company limited guarantee), which merged with Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inc., a large Catholic health ministry based in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2019.
“As the new Bon Secours Hospital Limerick opens an additional ward, discussions are being finalised to support the public system in providing care for a number of medical patients from University Hospital Limerick,” stated Bon Secours in reply to questions about its current negotiations with the HSE.
“Bon Secours welcomes the opportunity to support our colleagues in the HSE as we continue the phased opening of our new facility and looks forward to continuing collaboration.”
UHL is consistently the most overcrowded hospital nationally, and has been the subject of a number of internal HSE reviews following patient deaths that occurred during severe overcrowding conditions.
When asked about the proposed plan with Bon Secours, the HSE (Mid West) replied: “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,” it said.
HSE Mid West added that “as discussions are ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further”.
Overcrowding issues have persisted at UHL, despite the opening of additional bed capacity, including the opening of a €105million 96-bed unit on the UHL site, last October.
Last December, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the Government would support 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, which would include a new ED.
24-hour EDs were closed at EnnisSt Johns, and Nenagh hospitals and reconfigured to UHL in 2009, after the Government implemented a plan to make UHL a “Centre of Excellence”.