Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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370. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he will take to tackle the severe overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick in view of the fact that the number of patients on trolleys at the hospital has now surpassed all previous trolley number records; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17667/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Emergency Department in University Hospital Limerick is one of the busiest in the country, with the number of patients attending growing year on year.

Limerick was identified as one of the nine sites requiring additional investment, focus and support as part of this year's Winter Plan. The problem of overcrowding in hospitals requires a full-system, patient-focused response. Recognising this, in the Winter Plan, the HSE sought to maximise the use of existing resources across hospital groups and CHOs and to target additional investment at both hospital and community services and supports. This includes additional home support packages and transitional care beds to support people to leave the hospital and return home.

The range and prioritisation of measures was a matter for UHL and CHO Mid-West. Key measures included:

- extended opening hours in the AMAU;

- opening of a surgical short-stay unit;

- additional access to diagnostics.

The NTPF has established a fund of €1m that will support the HSE Winter plans with a focus on increasing access to diagnostics in both private facilities and in-house.  6,050 vouchers had been issued to Emergency Departments for diagnostics as of 31 March 2019, including 1,050 vouchers issued to UHL.

It is widely agreed that a key part of the solution for Limerick is additional beds. Over the past 18 months, an additional 25 beds have opened in Limerick, including 8 as part of this year's Winter Plan.

A capital allocation of €2 million has been granted in recent weeks and the HSE advises that this will facilitate the completion of enabling works for the 60-bed modular ward in 2019.

In addition, the National Development Plan includes a 96-bed replacement ward block in Limerick and capital funding was provided in 2018 to progress the design phase of this project.

I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on the actions that are being taken to maximise the use of existing resources in UL Hospital Group and CHO 3 and to reduce overcrowding.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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371. To ask the Minister for Health if he has met an organisation (details supplied) to discuss its serious concerns about the overcrowding situation and management issues at University Hospital Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17668/19]

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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378. To ask the Minister for Health if he has considered establishing an independent external clinical review of University Hospital Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17675/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 371 and 378 together.

The issue of an independent review of University Hospital Limerick was raised with me at a meeting with the co-Chairs of the Emergency Department Taskforce on 4 April. I requested the HSE to examine the proposal.

The HSE advises that, with the specific input of the Special Delivery Unit, it is currently undertaking a review of performance across all Hospital Groups and Community Health Organisations (CHOs) over the winter period. This review will consider planning, implementation and performance at Group and CHO level. This review will have a particular emphasis on the focus sites, which includes UHL.

The governance of clinical services in UHL is a matter for the Hospital Group and the HSE. Where the performance of an individual hospital warrants further review, this can be considered by the HSE's existing Performance and Accountability Framework, which provides for escalation and a range of actions.

The Deputy's proposal for an independent external clinical review of University Hospital Limerick will be considered as part of this process.