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MINISTER FOR HEALTH Stephen Donnelly has welcomed the involvement of a HSE unit to address “chronic” overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
It comes after a Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) inspector’s report found that patients on trolleys at UHL had “little to no privacy or dignity” because of the severe overcrowding.
On the day of the unannounced inspection, Hiqa found 60 patients had been waiting “an especially long time”, including one patient who had waited 116 hours (close to five days), a second waiting more than 85 hours and another waiting 71 hours.
Another patient waited 45 hours for an angiogram.
A HSE statement this evening announced that the team will be onsite for 4-6 weeks and will be similar to teams that have recently supported services in both Cork University Hospital and Kerry General Hospital.
Donnelly met with senior officials from the Department of Health and the HSE today to discuss immediate responses to the pressure on 29 emergency departments across the country.
The Department said in a statement that the discussion included the emergency department at UHL in the wake of recent reports by both Hiqa and a HSE Expert Team, which were recently deployed to Limerick at the Minister’s request.
The officials involved in today’s discussions included that Expert Team.
The Department of Health said in a statement that HSE chief operations officer Anne O’Connor has now written to both the CEO of University of Limerick Hospital Group and the chief officer of Mid-West Community Healthcare.
She informed them that she has mandated the Performance Management Improvement Unit (PMIU) of the HSE to “engage urgently” with the organisations.
“The PMIU will provide intensive support to both hospital and community teams to ensure that the issues identified in the recent assessment, and the HIQA report, are addressed as a matter of urgency,” the Department said.
“While recognising that the programme of investment in hospital and community capacity in the region is ongoing, the PMIU will ensure that all necessary immediate steps are taken to address the safety issues identified, including chronic overcrowding.
“A detailed plan will be urgently developed to ensure that they do not reoccur.
“Such planning will include issues including; admission avoidance, pre admissions, community interventions and alternative pathways as well as issues regarding patient flow through the hospital and ED.
“Minister Donnelly has welcomed this action and has made clear that all necessary immediate resources will be committed to ensure safe and appropriate levels of care are restored in Limerick without delay.”
With additional reporting from Jamie Mc Carron
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Sure give them a house there!
@DL_8_5: Yeah. At least they’ll have proper shelter in prison haha.
@DL_8_5: You will have to wait a few hours maybe till 10 or 11 am before you get counter arguments from the “everyone in the audience gets a free house brigade” or the its the “governments/bankers/tax payers fault crew” as it was dole day yesterday so they had to put in a long day in at the bookies or pub.
@Jonathan Whelan: Ohhhhhh that’s gonna BURN. Well said
@Jonathan Whelan: Stereotyping much?
@Andrew Giles: hmm I’d say its more stastical analysis than sterotyping!
@Jonathan Whelan: you’ve obviously never had the displeasure of being unemployed and on the dole then, trust me, you’re stereotyping.
@Jonathan Whelan: What are you talking about Johnny boy, did you not hear we are back to full employment. If you don’t believe me ask Leo.
Ps I get a half day today
@Derek Poutch: ha ha good man good to see some light hearted comments!
@Andrew Giles: awww no I actually have been, was on a project 9 years ago and they were laying lads off. I put my name forward as the rest of the lads had mortgages and one had a baby on the way. Was nothing going work wise so diversified and went out trawling to make a quid! All about drive n attitude!
Why suspend part of a sentence for a man with 67 convictions? Mind boggling.
@Dj: I think the idea of suspending part of a sentence is , that you have to abide by probation rules and can be monitored , and that if you let slip , you have to finish out your sentence .
So in a way , it’s keeping tabs on you when you get out .
@Ken Hayden: Fair enough but someone who has dozens of convictions has obviously proved to be a high risk repeat offender so why not just give him the full sentence and put him on probation when he gets out.
@Dj: Am no legal expert , but I would imagine the probation part would have to be included in your sentence , hence the suspended part .
Maybe someone knows the law and can post .
I hope we never get to the 3 strikes rule , but some people obviously consider the rule of law a joke , when they can commit 67 crimes and not be jailed .
@Ken Hayden: they cant be keeping tabs on him if he had a string of convictions!!! And i highly doubt they will now…
@Ken Hayden: I’m no legal w pert either but isn’t privation different Dron suspending part of your set sentence? The for is decided by the judge at sentencing time, when the latter is more to do with prisons letting you out early in a monitored way?
“snuck”. Fabulous. The standard term for the past tense of the word “sneak” is “sneaked”. “Snuck” is informal and really has no place in professional journalism.
@Maria Hickey-Fagan:
“snuck” is a recognised word but more commonly used in North American english:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/is-snuck-a-real-word
@Maria Hickey-Fagan:
Journal.ie ran a story the other day about broadband in Ireland with the phrase “in shite” used in the headline,I kid you not!
‘Mannerly Burglaries’. Love it!
Homeless men with an address at…
Sure they have a roof over their heads now and food everyday.
Well when your government won’t take care of you what do you expect to happen?
How about they take care of themselves
@Cameron O’Toole: Yes Talbot should be doing a life sentence. After 67 convictions its clear he will be nothing other than a criminal. The government has failed the people of Ireland.
As for your comment. It is not upto the government to house every junkie in the country. The government do not have to take care of people. Most of us take care of ourselves. The government didnt put the syringe into these men
@Cathal: They were until the Guards got involved :-)
@Cameron O’Toole: the government has never looked after me and im not living on the streets or on drugs or go around commiting crime… i look after myself!! And why should the government look after them??
Probably the only time in their lives these two guys will ever wear high-vis jackets.
Homeless, great tag line,
Two ##### bags more like it
At least they’ll get better treatment in prison. A warm bed and food, maybe a chance at rehabilitation that could lead to education and getting them off the streets, and people in prison won’t ignore them and pretend they are not there.
@Liberal Larry: Ya, it’s society’s fault that one of these men decided to leave school at 12 and go on to lead a life of crime. Instead of ignoring these criminal drug addicts society should have embraced them. How many criminals are you friends with Larry?
@Liberal Larry: yes Larry it’s the Governments fault, numbnuts
67 convictions? Where is the social equality when normal people struggling to make ends meet dont pay the likes of a tv licence and get jail ? Anything over 20 convictions automatic maximum jail term applicable for each particular crime. If working people pay more tax for the more they earn, like wise career criminals should have to pay more time in jail for the increasing number of convictions. Also in respect to free legal aid for criminal cases, guilty verdict = defendant liabile for legal costs. Garnish there future dole to recoup.
If homeless how come they gave addresses of where they lived
Why the big ‘homeless’ in the heading. Cheap shot headline.
If they have addresses how are they homeless?
How dare they. The cheek of them coming over here to our country and taking our women….and phones……oh wait!!@
Shame they didnt put as much effort into hetting a job
Snuck?
Does anyone ever serve the suspended part of these sentences? People seem to be serial offenders but I have never heard of time being added to convictions because they had reoffended after a previous suspended sentence. Can anyone shed light on this?
Lock them up and throw away the “glide”
have your say