UHL opens surge capacity at Tipperary hospital as ED is coping with high patient demand
University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is currently experiencing extremely high demand and is appealing to the public to consider all care options before presenting at its Emergency Department, according to a statement issued by UHLG.
Surge capacity has been opened at the group's other hospitals, including Nenagh.
"In recent weeks we have been caring for an exceptionally high number of unwell medical patients associated with a surge in respiratory illnesses and who require admission to hospital. A total of 261 patients attended the ED on Monday, significantly above average and it follows an unusually busy weekend," they said.
The group warned that UHL is currently at its highest state of escalation.
"Surge capacity has been opened at UHL and across our hospitals. Elective activity in UHL is being reviewed on a daily basis, with only urgent and time-critical patients, including cancer cases, scheduled for surgery this week," they said.
The Emergency Department remains open 24/7 and urgent care is being delivered to those who need it most, but anyone who comes to ED who doesn’t have a life-threatening or severe illness or injury will face a significant wait.
Injury Units and Medical Assessment Units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John's are also experiencing an increase in demand.
"It is encouraging to see this increase in demand for services available in our model 2 hospitals as more patients choose alternatives to the ED," they said.
Commenting on the current demand on health services, Sandra Broderick, Regional Executive Officer, HSE Mid West, said: “UHL is experiencing high demand for emergency care and I encourage members of the public across Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary to utilise alternative care options such as our local pharmacies, who can give advice on minor aliments; your GP; and our Injury Units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s.
"In addition, I would encourage people to use the GP urgent out-of-hours across the region as alternatives to ED care. I recognise people may require prompt, urgent medical attention that can only be met at the ED and those patients should continue to use the ED service.
“I want to apologise to the public who are experiencing unacceptable and excessive waiting times to access our various services in the community and the hospital. Unfortunately, we have had to reduce our elective activity and open additional surge capacity across our hospitals to manage this increased demand.
"I want to assure the public that the health and social care teams across the region are working at full capacity to meet this extreme demand and I thank the staff sincerely for their efforts."