LIMERICK’S MID-WESTERN Regional Hospital is unable to cope with the increased demand placed on it as a result of the closure of services at smaller hospitals in the region, according to the hospital’s medical board.
In a hard-hitting statement the board said although it supported reconfiguration of services, it was plain to senior medical staff that there were insufficient beds and staff to adequately meet the increased demands. More pressure has been placed on the hospital by the transfer of patients with serious diagnoses from Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals as well as St John’s Hospital, Limerick.
“There are not enough beds at Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick. There are deficiencies also in other essential elements of the service including staffing levels and infrastructure in the emergency department and the department of radiology, and there is an enormous strain on the intensive care facilities. The cancellation of planned surgical procedures is now a routine occurrence due to bed pressures,” it said.
“The hospital requires urgent investment. It needs a 60-bed extension as a minimum to replace acute beds closed in Ennis and Nenagh . . . reconfiguration must be resourced appropriately by the HSE and not used at every opportunity to cut costs and reduce numbers of frontline staff,” it added.
The comments came in the same week as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation claimed overcrowding in the hospital’s emergency department was so acute that cots had to be erected within the department to cope with the number of sick babies waiting for admission.
The medical board said an independent report on the reconfiguration of services in the midwest in 2008 recommended an extra 135 acute beds for Limerick Regional Hospital.
“Unfortunately, the reality over the past two years has been that none of the resource or infrastructure planned to facilitate a safe and effective transition has been forthcoming. With no new beds in Dooradoyle and 60 beds closed in Ennis and Nenagh there is a deficit of up to 200 beds in the region as envisaged by these reports. This has exacerbated unacceptable overcrowding in the emergency department and hospital wards in Dooradoyle,” it said.
The medical board statement, signed by its chairman Dr Alexander Fraser, vice-chairman Brian Lenihan and secretary Neville Shine, also said while €7 million was promised by the HSE to offset some of the significant costs incurred by reconfiguration this has not been forthcoming.
If critical care services were also moved to Limerick from Ennis and Nenagh this would lead to further pressure on the hospital, which was already working at well over 100 per cent capacity, they warned. They urged the HSE to work with them to resource planned change appropriately and cease to use change as an opportunity for cost cutting.
The HSE said it welcomed the consultants’ commitment to the reconfiguration of acute medical and surgical services in the midwest but regretted their statement did not reflect the totality of developments since 2009 and the substantial investment in new resources and consultant posts at the regional hospital.
“Two new consultant posts were created in 2008, five in 2009 and 10 in 2010. Ten senior medical posts are waiting to be filled at the MWRH in 2011, the majority of them being associated with new developments in service commonly referred to as reconfiguration,” it said.
Meanwhile, a public meeting will be held in Ennis tomorrow night to discuss the planned closure of Ennis hospital’s high-dependency unit on March 1st. All election candidates in Co Clare will be asked to oppose the move.