UHL apologise after attempts made to remove an elderly dementia patient at 4am

UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick has apologised after staff were called to move an elderly patient with dementia at 4am. 

It comes as the hospital has been experiencing unprecedented levels of overcrowding, with 150 patients left without a hospital bed on Wednesday - a record-breaking figure since the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) began recording their trolley watch lists in 2006.

According to a report in the Irish Daily Mail, a man, aged in his 80s, was awoken at around 4am on Tuesday, and told he was being discharged.

Security staff were then called as the man had reportedly become agitated and confused, due to the time and nature of his move.

The Mail reported that the security refused to remove the man given the sensitive nature of the matter and the man's distressed state.

In a statement, a spokesperson for University Hospital Limerick Group (UHLG) said they can not comment in detail on individual cases.

However, they added that how soon a transfer between the hospital and community settings may depend on the availability of ambulance resources. 

“Where a vehicle is responding to an emergency, patient transfers may be delayed,” the spokesperson added.

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“We regret that on this occasion such a delay resulted in an attempt to transfer the patient back to the community setting at an inappropriate hour. It is not our usual practice at UHL to transfer patients in the early hours of the morning and we would like to sincerely apologise to the patient in question for any distress caused,” the spokesperson finished.