HSE: 96-bed block at overcrowded UHL to be fully operational Wednesday

David Raleigh

A newly constructed 96-bed block at the chronically overcrowded University Hospital Limerick is expected to be fully operational on Wednesday.

Most of the beds were open on Tuesday; however, it was expected that all 96 beds would be available on Wednesday, the HSE said.

The block, which is made up of four wards of 24 beds, will be officially launched by the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, next Monday, October 13th.

“We expect that all four new additional wards will be operational by Wednesday, October 8th,” said a HSE Mid West spokesman.

“Just under 400 whole-time equivalent additional staff are being recruited to support the opening of the new beds, the majority of whom are now in post.

“Recruitment is ongoing to fill the remaining posts."

The 96-bed block is the first of three proposed at University Hospital Limerick, which will aim to reduce patient overcrowding as well as reduce the risk of patient safety.

The hospital has been subject to a number of reviews and investigations following the deaths of several patients, during high levels of patient overcrowding and understaffing.

UHL provides the only 24-hour Emergency Department in the mid-west region (Limerick, Clare, north Tipperary), but it also receives patients from parts of north Cork, and north Kerry.

There were 84 patients languishing on trolleys and waiting for a bed at cubicles, corridors, and wards at the Limerick hospital today, according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

According to “Trolleygar” figures, published by the HSE, there were 40 patients on trolleys at UHL.

Last Sunday, the HSE said UHL was experiencing “exceptionally high demand with a significant number of admitted patients being accommodated on trolleys”.

It urged, where possible, that patients “use all available alternative services” to the Limerick emergency department.

“Injury Units and Out-of-Hours GP services are fully operational and can provide care for non-life-threatening conditions,” it said.

The HSE said the ED at UHL remained open “for patients with life-threatening emergencies, however, patients with less urgent injuries or illnesses are likely to wait substantial waiting times”.

It said additional staff have been rostered at weekends to increase patient discharges and apologised to patients facing an “unacceptably long waiting time for a bed”.

Last week, a review of emergency healthcare in the region, undertaken by government health watchdog, HIQA, recommended a number of options for increasing bed capacity and thereby reducing the risk to patient safety, which included the construction of an additional hospital and/or extending the UHL site.

It also called for enhanced pre-hospital emergency care services to reduce demand at the consistently overcrowded Limerick ED.

The Government's Acute Hospital Inpatient Bed Capacity Expansion Plan, published in 2024, said the mid-west region required 382 additional hospital beds by 2031.

A report by Deloitte, and commissioned by UHL in 2022, said a total of 365 beds, including 302 extra inpatient beds and 63 day case beds, were required to meet demand in the region.

In 2009, Accident and Emergency units were reconfigured to UHL from Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, and St John’s Hospital, Limerick.