Pilot project to help reduce overcrowding in UHL commences

A PILOT project has commenced this Monday to try and combat the overcrowding crisis and reduce time on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

In essence, it means paramedics responding to emergency calls will assess patients and then consult doctors in Ennis Hospital to see whether they can be treated there rather than in UHL.

Last week, Professor Declan Lyons, a consultant physician and geriatrician at UHL, gave an example of an elderly man who had collapsed at home in West Clare. He was brought by ambulance to UHL, passing Ennis hospital on the way. The patient then spent three days on a trolley in UHL before being sent back to Ennis hospital. 

A joint statement on behalf of the National Ambulance Service and UL Hospitals Group Ennis Medical Assessment Unit was issued to Limerick Live this Monday.

"The Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) pathway for 112/999 patients being introduced in Ennis Hospital and the Mid-West was successfully trialled in North Cork and Mallow General Hospital in 2022.

"It allows stable medical patients that meet the agreed clinical criteria to be treated in a Model 2 hospital. A key element is a telephone referral from the treating paramedic to the receiving MAU doctor, which ensures that the right patient is brought to the MAU."

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The statement continues: "This pathway will result in patients receiving medical treatment in a hospital closer to their home, will reduce patient presentations to Emergency Departments and will release ambulances more quickly to respond to other emergency calls.

"112/999 patients that do not meet these clinical criteria will continue to be transported to Emergency Departments for assessment and treatment. In Ennis Hospital, this pathway will commence on January 9."

The Medical Assessment Unit in Ennis Hospital treats patients referred by GPs, ShannonDoc and now NAS paramedics. 

The statement stresses, "It is essential that unwell medical patients do not attend the MAU without a referral".