Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise again the mess that is University Hospital Limerick. This morning, day surgeries were cancelled in Ennis because no patients arrived. It appears that nobody told the surgical team though.

The urology surgical team, anaesthetists and nurses were all waiting for patients but none arrived. It seems to be an incredibly bad use of scarce resources. It is not unique, unfortunately. During the Covid pandemic the hospital at Ennis had many more cancellations of services than happened at Nenagh, St. John's or University Hospital Limerick. University Hospital Limerick should not be a surprise but the other should be on a par with Ennis. The most recent figures that I got for early 2022 equally show that the hospital in Ennis is less utilised. At least the Taoiseach visited Limerick unlike his predecessor and he has an interest in the matter, but an interest is not enough. Will he come to Ennis to see the solutions the hospital offers in the short term in terms of an increase in the local injuries unit capacity, the medical assessment unit capacity and in the longer term an increase in the capacity for day surgery it can offer for the UL Hospitals Group? More importantly will he make sure that the hospital at Ennis is adequately utilised and not disregarded in the fashion it is today as regularly?

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