Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to address the House on the issues raised by Deputies Quinlivan and O'Donnell. I have heard both Deputies raise similar issues on many occasions. I acknowledge the distress that overcrowded emergency departments cause to patients, their families, and the front-line staff working in very challenging conditions in hospitals throughout the country. I also acknowledge the work of staff and their commitment to ensuring the uninterrupted provision of emergency care throughout the pandemic.

The emergency department at UHL is one of the busiest emergency departments in the country, with 65,824 presentations in 2020. As both Deputies have mentioned, over the past number of weeks, the hospital has experienced considerable demand for inpatient beds. This is attributed to a sharp increase in overall emergency department attendance, particularly among those aged over 75 who present with higher acuity, and to increased lengths of hospital stay. The number of presentations between January and April this year was 22,202, an increase of 10.1% on the same period last year. The attendance of those over 75 has increased by 16%.

Additionally, while attendance and admission numbers have now returned to pre-pandemic levels, the continued requirement to provide separate Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 pathways presents an additional challenge to patient flow in all hospitals, including UHL.

The winter plan provided several hospital avoidance measures to support UHL. These include the appointment of a dementia adviser, recruitment for enhanced community care in the south of the city and west Limerick and additional capacity in Nenagh and Croom hospitals.

It is acknowledged that acute bed capacity shortages in the mid-west are a major contributor to overcrowding at the emergency department in UHL. The provision of 98 additional beds in the hospital over the past year has been a significant step in addressing this. These include a new 60-bed modular ward block, providing modern, single-room inpatient accommodation. As well as improving patient experience in terms of comfort, privacy, and dignity, it also improves infection prevention and control capabilities, including better isolation of patients, where necessary. The remaining 38 beds were provided through the completion of two separate rapid-build projects delivered under the Government national action plan in response to Covid-19.

Both Deputies asked about the 96-bed replacement ward. I am pleased that funding has been provided in the 2021 HSE capital plan for a 96-bed replacement ward block at UHL. Following receipt of the final grant of planning permission in early March 2021, the design team have now commenced detailed design and preparation of the procurement documents for this development. It is planned to have the project tendered and a preferred contractor selected by the end of 2021. The construction period from contractor appointment will be approximately 18 months. As we know, all capital development proposals must progress through a number of approval stages in line with the public spending code, including detailed appraisal, planning, design and procurement, before a firm timeline or funding requirement can be established.

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