Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for her question and it is fair to say that the senior Minister, Deputy Donnelly, working with Bernard Gloster and Sandra Broderick, the new regional executive officer, REO, are trying to use every available lever they have in the area to improve the situation in University Hospital Limerick. It is also fair to acknowledge that a huge amount of great work is done in that hospital too with very many good people working there.

The development of injury units, IUs, is a strategic initiative for this Government to assist with alleviating pressures in our emergency departments. As a result of this strategic plan a national injury unit review was undertaken by the HSE in 2023. The recommendations from this review were: to expand all existing acute hospital governed IUs to operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and to expand geographical coverage and prioritise locations for the provision of IUs.

Resources are provided under the national service plan to standardise all IUs to open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. by quarter 4 of 2024. I must note that Ennis injury unit is already operating to the hours recommended by the review. In addition, an implementation plan for the expansion programme is under development.

Demand for urgent and emergency care in the region has increased year on year, which includes activity in injury units and medical assessment units in the three model 2 hospitals of Ennis, Nenagh, and St. John’s. To address this increasing demand, this Government has invested significantly in additional capacity in the region and at UHL.

The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has asked HIQA to lead a review into urgent and emergency care capacity in the mid-west region to determine whether a second emergency department is required. While this is ongoing, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, announced an additional package of reforms and supports for the mid-west region in April of this year. Progress is being made on delivering these improvements, with some services, such as the new nursing and residential home triage tool already being implemented by the National Ambulance Service. Some 150 new beds have been opened in the University of Limerick Hospitals Group since January 2020 and 108 of these beds have been in UHL. Additional health service capacity is being provided through: a new 96 bed block at UHL where it is anticipated that this will provide additional capacity for the region from mid-2025; a second 96-bed block at UHL, the enabling works for which are under way; a rapid build 16-bed unit at UHL, for which completion is expected at the end of December 2024; an additional 84-inpatient beds are being planned at UHL through the Acute Hospital Inpatient Bed Capacity Expansion Plan; and medical assessment units, MAUs, as I have already said, at Nenagh, Ennis and St. John’s Hospitals are extending their service to 24 hours a day, seven days a week on a phased basis.Currently, the MAUs are operational from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. This will be extended to 16 hours per day, from 8 a.m. to midnight, by the end of quarter 3 2024, which is soon.

The community rehabilitation unit in Nenagh is now operational, delivering 50 beds in Nenagh as a temporary step-down facility. The procurement process for the community rehabilitation unit beds in Ennis has been finalised and the group will now focus on operationalising the additional 25 beds at Ennis. That is in Cahercalla, which I visited a couple of years ago. Bed capacity is being expanded throughout the region through the acute hospital inpatient bed capacity expansion plan, with 24 new beds at Nenagh Hospital, 48 new beds at Ennis Hospital and 42 new beds at St John’s Hospital.

Every effort is being made to increase capacity and build confidence in the region again. That is what everybody wants to see.