Elderly woman left on chair for nearly 24 hours at University Hospital Limerick
UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick have apologised to an elderly patient who was left sitting on a chair for nearly 24 hours while waiting for a bed.
The 74 year-old woman was told by her GP that she needed hospital treatment after she was diagnosed with an infection in her foot.
After presenting to the Emergency Department at UHL at around 5pm Wednesday evening, the woman was seen by a nurse who confirmed that she needed to be admitted and receive IV antibiotics.
The patient was then left alone for hours and she grew increasingly worried that her infection was spreading as her doctor had drawn a line on her leg where, if the infection crossed, it would become very serious.
The woman was concerned that the infection was spreading and her 78 year-old husband raised her concerns with the staff. She was then moved to the Acute Surgical Assessment Unit.
At 3pm on Thursday, the next day, the woman was still sitting on a chair in the unit waiting for a bed.
The woman's daughter, Grace, said that despite the fact her mother was not yet on a trolley, she was being well looked after by staff.
Grace told the Limerick Leader: "I don't like giving out and she was looked after by the staff there but we seem to accept now that this kind of thing is OK.
"She has been told she needs to be admitted but they just don't have a bed for her. She is being treated and receiving good care which we are grateful for."
After her long wait in the ASAU, the woman was eventually placed on a trolley, almost 24 hours after she arrived at the hospital.
Grace continued: "It is just not right that a woman of her age was left waiting that long for a trolley. If you are told on arrival you need to be admitted why would you be left to sit on a chair for 24 hours?
"A trolley is now considered a luxury. The staff can only work with the resources they have, there just isn't enough for them."
A spokesperson for the UHL Group has apologised to Grace's mother and all patients currently facing long wait times at the hospital.
They said: "This is not the care we wish to provide for our patients and we would like to assure patients and their loved ones that management and staff are making every effort to minimise wait times for admitted patients.
"The hospital remains under severe pressure as a result of sustained high activity levels at our Emergency Department over the last number of months.
"We continue to follow our Escalation Plan, which includes use of surge capacity, undertaking additional ward rounds, accelerating discharges and identifying patients for transfer to our Model 2 hospitals."
They continued: "However, many patients currently admitted to UHL are sicker and with more complicated conditions, and require longer inpatient stays to recover.
"We apologise to all patients currently experiencing excessive wait times and we can reassure them that they will continue to receive appropriate care while they do wait."