GP says delays in service access in UHL can lead to 'serious deterioration' in illnesses

LAHINCH GP, Michael Kelleher has said that delays in service access at University Hospital Limerick can lead to serious deterioration in many illnesses that could have had a better outcome at an earlier date.

Dr Kelleher appeared on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland along with pharmacist Niall O’Sullivan who works in Limerick to discuss the ongoing overcrowding crisis at UHL.

According to Dr Kelleher, GP services are already under “significant pressure” and he said the issues in UHL are “long-standing”.

“They are primarily capacity issues, where the service there needs more beds, needs more step-down care options and also needs far more community services to support the step-down services,” Dr Kelleher said.

UL Hospitals Group (ULHG) in a statement released to Limerick Live on Monday said they have been caring for an “exceptionally high” number of unwell medical patients in the hospital.

“The Emergency Department has seen its highest week of emergency presentations since the beginning of the year (1,716 to 8am this morning, a daily average of 245 patients),” a spokesperson for ULHG said.

READ MORE:  Surgeries at three Limerick hospitals postponed for second day

According to Dr Kelleher, the issue is largely due to a rising population and an ageing population.

“That is going to place a continuing demand on what used to be a winter surge at the hospital is now an all-year-round demand. That’s not going to change because our population is rising and ageing.

“We have four times as many people over 85 in 25 years and we are simply going to have to build out the capacity to cope with that.

“In the short term, we are going to have lots of issues like what is occurring in Limerick currently,” Dr Kelleher said.

Dr Kelleher said that people are well aware of the pressure that’s in the emergency rooms and the delays in getting attention.

“The impact of overcrowding is very severe and certainly the patient impact delays in receiving specialist care and diagnostics… and delays in service access can lead to a serious deterioration in many illnesses that could have had a better outcome if they were treated earlier,” he said.

“GPs make every effort to keep people out of hospital and only refer appropriately, so the majority of the people we would be sending into hospital for admission would be frail elders, where there isn’t an option to keep them in the community.

Dr Kelleher also mentioned they would refer very young ill children and “in those circumstances the portal of entry to the hospital is ER”.

Dr Kelleher also mentioned that he would support the construction of another level three type hospital.

“For elective care, yes, I would. I think if you had elective care options it would reduce the pressure on the existing emergency care services. I understand the guidance and best practices you have to centralise some of those services to get the best optimal patient outcomes.

“The ER crisis should not be viewed in isolation it’s the most visible part of an interlocking health service. You have the emergency rooms as the entrance to the hospitals but then you have capacity issues at the hospital, capacities in step-down and capacity issues in the community. You have to build out all of them.

Pharmacist Niall O’Sullivan of O’Sullivan’s Pharmacy Group in Limerick has seen more and more people presenting at pharmacies rather than going to the Emergency Department at UHL.

“It’s nothing new to us. Pharmacies were open throughout Covid. We were the only face-to-face contact so a lot of people when they were afraid and in fear, they would have presented at pharmacies anyway, more than just minor ailments, those who should have went to hospital anyway,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

Mr O’Sullivan had a personal experience with overcrowding at the hospitals as one of his sons badly fractured his elbow and required surgery.

“He ended up with a plate and screws. In that case, trying to get through the emergency department it took two days on a trolley waiting for a position,” Mr O’Sullivan said.