Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the issue raised by the Deputy. I am replying on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. I thank the Deputy for the constructive way in which he outlined the situation and acknowledged that €100 million has been invested in the past ten years. More capacity has been put in place but UHL still recently recorded the highest ever number of patients on trolleys, at 126. I have answered questions on this topic in the Dáil and the Seanad and I have discussed it with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, who is acutely aware of the issue. As the Deputy stated, the Minister travelled to Limerick and spent two days there. He is aware of the situation.

I acknowledge the distress that overcrowded emergency departments cause to patients and their families, as well as front-line staff working in very challenging conditions in hospitals throughout the country. We are seeing a welcome reduction in the number of Covid-positive patients in hospital, with current numbers less than a third of the peak numbers seen in late March. However, the ongoing presence of Covid-positive patients, the continued requirement to provide separate Covid and non-Covid pathways and staff absences due to Covid are continuing to put pressure on the capacity and operation of hospitals, including emergency departments, across the health system.

University Hospital Limerick has reported that it is continuing to deal with record volumes of patients attending the emergency department. The hospital recorded a 10% increase in attendances in the first quarter of the year compared with the same timeframe in 2019. In the short term, UHL is working to ensure that care is prioritised for the sickest patients. As part of its escalation plan, additional ward rounds, accelerated discharges and identification of patients for transfer to UL Hospitals model 2 hospitals are all under way.

University Hospital Limerick was included in the independent review of unscheduled care conducted in 2019. The quality and patient safety team at UHL has developed a number of quality improvement pathways to ensure the recommendations of this review are enacted.

The Department of Health continues to work with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund to identify ways to quickly improve access to care, including through increased use of private hospitals, funding weekend and evening work in public hospitals, funding "see and treat" services, providing virtual clinics and increasing capacity in the public hospital system.

It is accepted that a key part of the solution for Limerick is additional beds. The new 60-bed modular ward block at UHL is a significant step in addressing this, and provides modern, single-room inpatient accommodation with improved infection prevention and control capabilities, as well as patient flow throughout the hospital. This follows two separate rapid-build projects which delivered 38 beds under the Government national action plan in response to Covid-19.

Medium-term plans for Limerick include provision for a 96-bed ward block at UHL. The evaluation of tenders received has been completed and the awarding of a works contract was approved by the HSE board on 25 March 2022. The capital and estates department of the HSE will now be engaging with the successful bidder. It is anticipated that it will likely take 24 months from commencement to complete the construction phase, with a further eight to nine weeks required to equip and commission the new block for use by the hospital. In the longer term, the plan for UHL, and nationally, is to enable more patients to be seen in the community wherever possible.

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