CEO of UL Hospitals Group apologises to people of Limerick and Mid-West

THE CEO of UL Hospitals Group Colette Cowan has apologised to the people of Limerick and the Mid-West for the number of patients that have had to wait on trolleys following record overcrowding.

In an online statement, on the same day where rumours circulated that the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) was due to visit the crisis-ridden University Hospital Limerick, Ms Cowan said "it is the patients that matter most."

"Our emergency service is overwhelmed, yet we continue to keep our hospitals running to serve the public. We are deeply sorry patients have to wait on trolleys," she said on Twitter.

While HIQA has denied the rumours of an emergency visit to UHL this Wednesday, the hospital has been under enormous media scrutiny  after it declared a "major internal incident" on Sunday, when the Emergency Department was seeing "unprecedented demand".

HIQA respond to rumours over University Hospital Limerick visit

At a meeting of the Hospital Crisis Management Team this Wednesday, the decision was made to cancel most outpatient appointments scheduled for the rest of the week, with hospital-wide visiting restrictions in place at UHL to remain in place.

Speaking this Wednesday, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly acknowledged that people will die because of risks posed by overcrowding in Emergency Departments (EDs).

In her statement, Ms Cowan highlighted that UHL has a very busy intensive care, high dependency unit and cardiology service, a surgical and a cancer centre.

She also stated that it has a "tri-county catchment area and one emergency department serving 380,000+ population."

While thanking her 5,000 strong staff for their tremendous work during the pandemic, she said: "We have been consistent in our message, the demand on our services is not matched by enough beds."