Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have raised the issue of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, UHL, many times with the Taoiseach's Government colleagues over the past two years. Yesterday set a new ignominious record for overcrowding in UHL, with 98 people on trolleys. At the same time we learn that the new 96-bed unit which is long awaited will actually deliver only 48 new beds; other beds will be taken out and replaced. I accept that any number of new beds will not meet the exponential growth in numbers on trolleys in Limerick, so there is a problem. I do not know what it is. Is it a problem with how admissions and discharges are done in the hospital? Is it that one of the other hospitals in the UHL group needs to be upgraded to a model 3 hospital? Will the Government commission an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of what the problem is with healthcare in the UHL group?

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