Public advised to avoid University Hospital Limerick Emergency Department due to high attendance
THE PUBLIC are being advised to avoid attending University Hospital Limerick due to a high attendance at the Emergency Department.
Patients with less urgent complaints are being warned they can expect long waits for treatment as hospitals across the region experience high demand for unscheduled care.
The ULH Group are asking the public to consider all available healthcare options to help them avoid long waits in the ED.
During the month of April, average daily attendances at the department were 227, compared with the 195 recorded in 2019, the last full year prior to the pandemic.
And this trend has continued into May as hospital staff experienced five particularly busy days over the long bank holiday weekend, with 276 patients attending last Friday, followed by 195 on Saturday, 184 on Sunday, 199 on the bank holiday Monday and 264 on Tuesday. These attendances are at levels significantly in excess of what is typical for weekends
This morning, May 4, there were 69 admitted patients waiting for a bed at UHL outside of designated bedspaces.
A spokesperson for UHL said: "Management and staff in UHL continue to work to our escalation plan to create extra capacity, and medical teams have been undertaking additional ward rounds to identify patients suitable for transfer to Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s Hospitals.
"We continue to work closely with our colleagues in HSE Mid West Community Healthcare in order to expedite discharges.
"Patients have also been transferred to Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, where additional theatre lists are going ahead outside of the hospital’s core orthopaedic activity."
The Hospital Management Team (HMT) is meeting twice daily and keeping the situation under constant review.
In line with their escalation plan, a small number of surgical patients have had their procedures at UHL deferred today in order to prioritise the sickest patients in the region coming through the Emergency Department.
Elective activity across the group is being reviewed daily. Any patient whose procedure is deferred will be contacted by the hospital and all patients are advised to attend for their appointment/procedure unless contacted to advise otherwise.
The spokesperson continued: "Anyone presenting to ED today with a less than urgent condition is going to face a lengthy wait for care.
"We urge the public to consider all available healthcare alternatives to ED. We apologise to all impacted patients. We are doing everything possible to maximise patient flow and minimise wait times.
"Less acutely unwell patients are asked to first consider our Injury Units, GPs, out-of-hours GP services and pharmacists before attending ED."
Injury Units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s are operating as normal. Opening hours for Ennis and Nenagh Injury Units are 8am -8pm and St John’s Injury Unit 8am-7pm.