Only 12 patients are waiting for a bed at Limerick hospital today

THERE are just 12 patients waiting for a bed at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) today (Friday, August 23). 

According to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) who provide daily trolley watch figures, there are 249 patients waiting for a bed in hospitals around the country today. 

This is significantly lower than usual - so far in August, the highest number of patients without beds in the Dooradoyle hospital was 127 on August 7.

While August is typically not a peak time for presentations to the emergency department (ED), this month has seen a surge in Covid cases across many clusters within the community. 

Throughout the month so far, trolley figures were between 92 and 127 daily for UHL for the first week of August. 

The second week of August from August 12-16 saw numbers reduce significantly with daily figures ranging from 43 to 59. 

This week then has been unprecedented with the number of patients on trolleys going from just twelve today to a high this week in UHL of 32. 

Generally, throughout the year, especially in what would be considered high risk periods for hospital presentations with the flu, viruses and RSV being rampant, UHL would be the most overcrowded, according to the INMO figures, on a daily basis. 

This month, the hospital has been the most overcrowded, based on the INMO records, on just seven days in August. 

In a response to Limerick Live, a communications spokesperson for the University Hospital Limerick Group, said that the HSE publishes their own figures on a daily basis, in line with the report into urgent and emergency care, which was announced yesterday by HIQA and according to their figures, there were no patients on trolleys at UHL yesterday, while the INMO said there were twenty. 

READ MORE: Emergency care in the Mid-West to be reviewed by HIQA

Meanwhile, elective and day surgery, along with outpatient activity remains significantly curtailed across the UL Hospitals Group. 

A spokesperson said: “However, management and healthcare teams have agreed a limited increase in the number of exemptions from the deferrals, in order to manage more cases of high clinical priority.

“These adjustments include some outpatient activity, endoscopies and day cases. The impact of this careful recalibration is being closely monitored, and its impact on management of patient flow in UHL and across our sites continually assessed.

“All patients impacted by deferrals are being contacted directly by our staff. We regret the impact of the decision to suspend appointments and we will work to reschedule these as soon as possible.

“Emergency and trauma surgery is continuing, and the Emergency Department (ED), which is open 24/7 for emergency cases, remains busy with high numbers of attendances.”

UHL are continuing to encourage people to only attend to the ED with serious illnesses and injuries, such as suspected heart attacks and strokes. 

People are being urged to consider alternative care pathways, like their family GP, out of hours GP services and local pharmacies, as well as the local injury and medical assessment units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s hospitals.