Limerick pensioner spent four nights on trolley amid ED ‘mayhem’

A PENSIONER suffering from Parkinsons Disease and a heart condition was left waiting on a trolley for four nights amid high levels of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, the Limerick Leader has learned.

Kilmallock man Denis Mulcahy, 79, attended the emergency department on Friday night after presenting with a concussion, his son Joe told the Leader.

Joe, who likened the overcrowded conditions to a “cattle mart”, said he was angry over the issue at the Dooradoyle hospital.

“He can’t sleep with the bright lights shining down on him. With his condition, the last thing he needs is this kind of stress. His health has deteriorated a lot since he has gone in there,” said Joe, who confirmed that his father was admitted to a bed in a ward at 4am on Tuesday.  “I’m very angry about it. My father has worked hard all of his life, paid his taxes, and this is how he is being treated. It keeps happening, and it’s my father today but tomorrow it could be someone else’s mother or father.

“The problem is going on for years and years now. Enough is enough, people are fed up. I would like to see the Minister answer for this,” he added.

Joe said he has had to be accompanied by a staff nurse the entire time, and that his mobility and speech is “poor”. 

Joe said the problem is “not down to the nurses and doctors” and that they “are all so overworked. It’s mayhem”. 

Denis was admitted to the emergency department on the same day UHL closed its 17-bed Ward 1A, which has sparked widespread public outrage.

A spokesperson for the UL Hospitals Group said that it notes the commentary on the closed ward and “again points out that 22 beds have opened elsewhere in the hospital in recent weeks”.

A spokesperson for the UL Hospitals Group said that five bed spaces in the vacated acute medical assessment unit opened this Monday. The 15-bed medical ward 4C will be fully staffed at weekends. 

The UL Hospitals Group has previously explained that Ward 1A is to close to facilitate the completion of works on a new fracture unit.

The spokesperson added that the plan to close the unit is offset by recently-opened 12-bed surgical short stay unit; three extra cardiology beds opened last week; five bed spaces are being looked at the vacated former acute medical assessment unit.

Responding to Mr Mulcahy’s lengthy trolley wait, the spokesperson said: “It regrets especially when elderly patients face long waits. For reasons of patient confidentiality, UL Hospitals Group cannot discuss individual cases.”

The spokesperson said there have been “high volumes” of over-75s presenting to the ED in recent days. At 7am on March 31, there were 18 over-75s in the ED, 14 of whom were admitted patients awaiting a bed.

However, the UL Hospitals Group is working on a number of initiatives for patients aged 75 and older, in order to prioritise the group for treatment in the emergency department. 

He said colour-coded documentation is in use to highlight this vulnerable group of patients, and that multidisciplinary teams of health professionals are identifying elderly patients for early intervention in order to avoid hospital admission.

UHL set the new national record for most patients on trolleys this Wednesday, with 81 patients on trolleys.