University Hospital Limerick breaks overcrowding record

University Hospital Limerick has set a new record for overcrowding in a single hospital, with 66 patients waiting for admission from its emergency department on Tuesday morning.

This includes 37 patients on trolleys and another 29 waiting on wards while beds were being sought for them, according to the daily TrolleyCount by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The hospital has had the worst record in the country for overcrowding in recent weeks, and Tuesday’s total represents a further increase on Monday, when 58 patients were waiting for admission.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said the number of patients attending the hospital was up 5 per cent this year, while 15 beds are temporarily closed in St John’s Hospital due to difficulties in recruiting nurses. Additional nursing and medical staff have been recruited to the emergency department to support the increase in activity, she said.

The hospital has also transferred patients to other local hospitals and put on extra ward rounds in order to relieve pressure. From today, the opening hours of the medical assessment unit are being extended by three hours a day.

Overcrowding in hospitals in Dublin has eased considerably in recent months and on Monday, Beaumont Hospital recorded the feat of having no patients on trolleys. There were nine patients waiting for admission this morning.

The performance of the hospital has improved sharply since Ian Carter, head of the RCSI Hospital Group, took on the additional responsibility as interim chief executive of Beaumont in June.

Nationally, 456 patients were waiting for admission to hospital on Monday morning. After Limerick, University Hospital Galway had the worst overcrowding, with 43 patients on trolleys.

The peak in overcrowding in Limerick is the highest seen since October 2011, when 58 patients were on trolleys in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda on one particular day.

Last month, a man in his 60s spent 52 hours on a trolley in the hospital’s emergency department.

A new emergency department in Limerick is due to open next spring. The hospital has also applied to the Department of Health for funding to build a new 96-bed block.