University Hospital Limerick opens 'surge capacity' due to high attendances at Emergency Department
UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick has opened its surge capacity in response to the high level of attendance at its emergency department this week.
UL Hospitals is warning that patients with 'less urgent' complaints face long delays as care is prioritised for the sickest of patients.
In addition to the high number of people attending the emergency department, the hospital is continuing to deal with a Covid-19 outbreak which is impacting the number of available inpatient wards.
UL Hospitals says 251 people presented at ED in the 24 hours up to 8am this Wednesday and that the average daily attendance since the the start of the year is 226.
"On all weekdays this month, attendances at the department have exceeded 200, with the highest attendances, 265, recorded this Monday and on January 18. This is far in excess of the 195 average daily presentation figure in the last full year pre-pandemic (2019), and continues a trend experienced in the Mid-West over a number of months," said a spokesperson.
"We are working to ensure that care is prioritised for the sickest patients, and as part of our escalation plan, additional ward rounds, accelerated discharges and identification of patients for transfer to our Model 2 hospitals are all underway. We have also opened surge capacity to manage the extremely high levels of activity," they added.
People with less urgent complaints are advised to expect long delays at the ED today, and to first consider our Injury Units, GPs, out-of-hours GP services and pharmacists before attending ED, which continues to experience high presentations.
Separately, there are currently 61 Covid-positive inpatients being treated in the hospital, of whom five are receiving critical care.
UL Hospitals says the high incidence of the disease in the community, including outbreaks in nursing homes, is affecting its capacity to discharge or transfer patients whose acute episode of care has concluded.
"We apologise to patients who are experiencing long waits for an inpatient bed at UHL as a result of the significant demands on our service," said the spokesperson.