Over 200 people died on trolleys at UHL from 2019 to 2023

OVER 200 people died in the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick over a four year period.

According to figures provided by UL Hospitals Group CEO Collette Cowan, 239 people have died in the Limerick emergency department between 2019 and 2023.

The figures were provided in response to a question from Clare County Councillor Cillian Murphy at the HSE Regional Health Forum West meeting on Tuesday, May 21.

The number of deaths at the ED at UHL are significantly higher than those recorded at other hospital EDs in the region in the same time period.

University Hospital Galway reported 195 patient deaths in their ED between 2019 and 2023, while Mayo University Hospital and at Letterkenny University Hospital reported 117 and 108 deaths, respectively.

“The majority of patients (90%) were triaged as the highest category indicating a life-threatening illness or patients who are at end-of-life,” Ms Cowen said in her response to Cllr Murphy.

The highest number of deaths at UHL ED in the reported time period was 2019, with 58 deaths.

There were 48 deaths in 2020, 41 in 2021, 51 in 2022, and 41 in 2023.

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The numbers given “does not include patients who have passed away by the time they have arrived at the ED, or critically injured or unwell patients who are brought directly to resuscitation following an accident or sudden illness”, she continued.

Campaign group Friends of Ennis Hospital called the figures “a shocking indictment of our health service”.

“There is no privacy or dignity to be found on a trolley,” they said in a statement responding to the figures. 

“Of the five hospitals with the highest numbers of patients on trolleys, UHL is the only one showing an increase in trolley numbers for 2024,” the group continued,  calling the figures “hugely concerning”.