Several hundred people have taken part in a protest march in Limerick to express their opposition to the ongoing overcrowded conditions at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
A group of around 400 people took part in a walk of protest in poor weather conditions from the Crescent Shopping Centre in Dooradoyle to the front entrance of the hospital to press home their ongoing concerns about conditions at the regions acute hospital.
The march comes on the anniversary exactly one year ago of a major march, in which over 11,000 people took part, to express their frustration and anger about conditions at the hospital.
Today's demonstration has been organised by Mike Daly, whose father died in 2011, and whose care at UHL was the subject of two inquests.
The Daly family lobbied for a second inquest which was held in March of last year and which overturned the original verdict, and lead to a new verdict of death by misadventure after hearing evidence over four days.
Mr Daly, who has campaigned for many years about conditions at the hospital, said that it is one year on from a major show of public disquiet about the situation at UHL and nothing has changed.
"People are still concerned, people are still worried about conditions and about bringing their loved ones to UHL to be treated because of the long wait times in its overcrowded emergency department. And this campaign to keep this issue highlighted will continue," he said.
Also taking part in today's march was Siobhan MacGowan, sister of the late Shane MacGowan who died last November.
She said people are fearful of taking their loved ones to UHL because of the large numbers in its ED and the long waiting times on trolleys.
She said she brought her 94-year-old father Maurice to UHL's ED recently, but he waited so long overnight on a trolley that she took him out and brought him to a hospital in Dublin.
UHL is frequently the most overcrowded hospital on the INMO's Trolley watch list, with the number of people waiting on a trolley in its ED or on one of its wards frequently topping over 100 on a daily basis.
Protest groups are calling for the reopening of the emergency departments in Ennis, Nenagh and at St Johns Hospital as a means of relieving the pressure at the acute hospital.
They were all closed as part of a reconfiguration of hospital services within the group in 2009, when all acute and emergency services were concentrated at UHL, but additional beds to support that move did not materialise.
These hospitals offer 12-hour injury units where consultant-led services were upgraded last January, but an improvement at UHL as a result has not materialised.
An improved fast track service at the emergency department was also introduced to identify and manage older patients to try and avoid long stays on trolleys.
Work is also progressing on the construction of a new 96 bed block at UHL which will bring extra infection control bed capacity, but its not due to be completed until the end of this year or early 2025.
An independent inquiry is also now under way into the care at UHL of 16-year-old Aoife Johnston, who died there in December 2022.
The inquiry, being lead by retired Chief Justice Frank Clarke was ordered by HSE chief Bernard Gloster after he read an internal review which found that overcrowding at the hospital was endemic.
The inquiry will also probe the clinical and corporate governance at the hospital and what part it and the overcrowding issue played in the teenagers death.
