Sinn Féin TD for Limerick Maurice Quinlivan has said that the crisis at UHL cannot be allowed to continue, and that the government must intervene as the token measures to date have had little or no impact.
Deputy Quinlivan’s comments come as figures show the number of patients on trolleys at UHL today was 126.
Teachta Quinlivan said:
“The INMO’s numbers of 126 people on trolleys in UHL beggars belief and is truly scandalous. The people of Limerick and the MidWest deserve so much better.
“The government is clearly to blame as they have ignored the concerns of the staff for years and failed to act in any meaningful way to address this crisis.
“Today 126 patients are being forced to wait on trolleys at the Dooradoyle hospital.
“These are incredible numbers when you consider the research report by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Britain, which noted that there is, on average, one excess death per every 67 patients forced to linger in an emergency department for eight to 12 hours.
“It is an absolute disgrace that the situation has been allowed to get this bad, and another mess Fine Gael have caused after their 11 years in government.
“The Taoiseach and the Minister for Health have washed their hands of this crisis and failed to take any meaningful actions to deal with the trolley crisis at UHL.
“Patients are being packed into this hospital like sardines, and nurses and doctors are being forced to treat sick patients on corridors and work in a very dangerously overcrowded environment.
“A number of staff have work-related stress and it is impossible for them to deliver the proper care people deserve in this overcrowded situation.
“We need urgent action to reduce the huge levels of overcrowding in our hospital, to ensure the safety of patients and staff.
“Sinn Féin has a plan for our health service, and we want to be in government to implement it.
“Our plans for our health system would make a dramatic difference to patients using the health service, and to our incredibly hard-working nurses, doctors and support staff.”
