AN INCREASE of only four patients per day to the accident and emergency unit at Limerick Regional Hospital has been recorded since the closure last month of 24-hour A&E services at Ennis and Nenagh, the Health Service Executive said yesterday.
It said an audit of the A&E operation at Limerick constituted “an effective rebuttal of charges that the service would be swamped following the ending of emergency care at Ennis and Nenagh”.
The HSE ended 24-hour A&E services at Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals on April 6th, with the emergency departments remaining closed between 8pm and 8am.
The HSE audit published yesterday found that the A&E service had an additional seven patients per night between 8pm and 8am since April 6th.
The figures show that there has been a 17 per cent increase in self- referrals from Clare to Limerick when the A&E at Ennis is open. This is believed to be related to the damning conclusions of a recent Health Information and Quality Authority report on services at Ennis hospital.
The figures also show that the average weekly number of Clare patients referred by the out-of-hours GP service Shannondoc to Limerick’s A&E during 8pm to 8am increased from 13.4 to 19.7 – an increase of 47 per cent from the Clare area.
Earlier this week Irish Nurses Organisation members voted for industrial action in protest at the continuing under-resourcing of Limerick’s A&E.
They have now agreed to suspend their planned action following the HSE agreeing to meet the union next Monday for talks on the issue.
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