Sinn Féin TD for Limerick City, Maurice Quinlivan, has called for action to be taken to address the challenge of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

Teachta Quinlivan made the call following the comments from The Irish Hospital Consultant Association (IHCA) that the HSE’s decision to cancel elective surgeries, endoscopies and outpatient appointments was “unbelievable” and “one of the starkest developments in Irish healthcare in recent times”.

Teachta Quinlivan said:

“Unfortunately this is not news in Limerick or the Mid-West as elective surgeries and outpatients appointments are often cancelled. Thousands of these appointments are cancelled routinely in UHL. 

“UHL is a hospital in perennial crisis with its full capacity protocol in operation almost every single day. 

“The Full Capacity Protocol (FCP) is supposed to be an emergency measure – it was never meant to deal with overcrowding. It is not supposed to be used almost every day or to become the norm. It means cancelling elective procedures and aggressive discharging.

“Surgeries and outpatients’ appointments are being delayed, as the hard-working staff try to cope with the high number of both presentations and people subsequently being treated on hospital trolleys and in hospital corridors.

“Each cancelled appointment needs to be rescheduled, further increasing already long waiting times for hospital appointments.

“The overcrowding at UHL is having a dramatic impact on patient care for those awaiting hospital appointments. The cancellation of elective activity to accommodate this overcrowding has resulted in long waiting lists.”

Teachta Quinlivan added: 

“We need a multi-annual plan to expand hospital capacity and develop a sustainable workforce.

“The cancellation of elective procedures is an ongoing problem at UHL, and it is due to the continued failure by successive Governments to address the trolley crisis at our hospital.

“This is happening because the Government has decided not to make the necessary investments in hospital care or in community care. There is a deficit of 1,000 acute inpatient beds in hospitals, and there are now more than 6,000 people waiting for home support across the state.

“Attending a hospital appointment is a nervous experience. People must organise time away from work to attend.

“To have an appointment, that you may have been waiting on for months or years, cancelled is an extremely frustrating situation and can impact people’s recuperation from injury or illness.”

“There is a need to deliver 288 acute inpatient beds at UHL, to deliver 24-hour urgent care at St. John’s Hospital and to make the challenges at UHL a priority at all levels of government.

“Waiting times are rising across the board. All this dysfunction is leading to more emergency presentations which is leading to more cancellations.

“It is a vicious cycle which has not been broken. In the meantime, patients in Limerick and the Mid-West are forced to pay the price for the government’s refusal to get to grips with the crisis in our health service.

“Sinn Féin in government would invest in the health service, to ensure patients get the high quality, timely care they need and deserve.”