The Taoiseach has ruled out reopening emergency departments at Ennis and Nenagh hospitals.
However, Leo Varadkar has committed to upgrading those hospitals so they can develop more as urgent care centres, to treat patients who are sick but stable, and who do not have to be brought to the emergency room at University Hospital Limerick.
Speaking following a visit to UHL, where he visited the ED and spoke to doctors, nurses and hospital management, Mr Varadkar said it is not the plan to reopen emergency departments at Ennis and Nenagh hospitals as it is impossible to have full emergency care at every hospital in every county where every disease can be treated, and that is not the trend.
He did accept that UHL had a bed capacity problem and said plans were now advanced to build a new 96-bed unit, so that there is a pathway to increasing capacity for the region.
Delighted to turn the sod on the new @BonSecours hospital -a very welcome healthcare development for the Limerick region. In addition to creating 250 new high-skilled jobs,it will greatly expand the quality of health services on offer to people living and working in the Mid-West. pic.twitter.com/bFw81O3Fku
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) February 17, 2023
The Midwest Hospital Campaign group held a protest outside UHL during the Taoiseach's vist.
The hospital's emergency department was the most overcrowded in the country last year.
Figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show that there were 85 admitted patients at UHL waiting for a hospital bed this morning.
Last month, thousands of people took part in a march in Limerick city centre to protest continued overcrowding at the hospital.
The second of our day's events to "welcome" Leo Varadkar to Limerick to make sure he heard our message that he needs to Reopen our ED’s was held outside #UHL this lunchtime pic.twitter.com/8tUxWFdtNU
— Mid West Hospital Campaign (@CampaignMWHC) February 17, 2023
The campaign group met the Taoiseach this afternoon and said they took some positives from their meeting.
Group co-ordinator Noeleen Moran said the Taoiseach told them he would look at upgrading both Ennis and Nenagh hospitals, but to what degree he could not commit to at this point.
"We're taking that as a positive but we want to see what actions will follow this meeting and he did give a commitment that he will follow up with us in a number of weeks, so we are satisfied we made some progress today," she said.
Fellow campaigner Conor Reidy added: "The Taosieach was open to the idea of extending the hours of local injury units which currently only have very limited availability for public.
"He was also positively disposed to the medical assessment unit at Nenagh being resourced further.
"It is currently taking limited numbers of patients and is still very small and its difficult for GPs to access, so considerable investment in that unit will be needed if it’s going to work in the future."
Earlier, speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Moran said: "This problem is ongoing for a number of years.
"We have the highest levels of overcrowding for some time and with each year it's getting worse and we break new records for all the wrong reasons.
"There is a serious failing in Government policy creating this situation in the midwest, and that their management of the health service in the midwest is failing people, and we know people are dying unnecessarily as a consequence."
Ms Moran said that there were many families grieving throughout the midwest and that there were fears about even attending the hospital.
"People are not getting the care that they deserve," she said.
"And that there's an awful lot of anger here ... sadly the trolley figures remain high, and really only take a dip when we have a high-level HSE executive or a ministerial visit coming to the hospital."
Ms Moran said that the midwest is "the only hospital group in the country that only has one emergency department".
"Going off 2016 census figures, that's one emergency department for 390,000 people."
Ms Moran said she will call on the Government to reopen the emergency departments in Clare, Nenagh and St John’s Hospital in Limerick, as she said the plan of care following their closure has not worked.
The INMO said that across the country, there were 548 admitted patients waiting for a bed, including 51 at Cork University Hospital and 46 at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
Sixteen patients at the three children's hospitals in Tallaght, Crumlin and Temple Street, were also waiting for a bed this morning.
