Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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700. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 442 of 4 May 22, the terms of reference of the expert teams review of additional resources for acute services at University Hospital Limerick; if the expert team will be consulting with patient groups or patients and health staff unions that have had to endure horrific conditions at the hospital since the reconfiguration of acute services in the mid-west; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24509/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The emergency department in UHL has experienced increased attendances and admissions in recent months. These increases, along with the additional pressure covid has placed on capacity, have resulted in increased Patient Experience Times and usage of trolleys. This is the despite the addition of 150 beds in the UL Hospital Group, 98 of which were in UHL itself, over the past two years.

I am committed to improving emergency department services to the people of the mid-west. I wrote to the CEO of the HSE on 26th April to request that he send in an expert team to ascertain urgently what additional resources might be deployed, as well as any changes that could be made quickly to alleviate the current pressures. I have stressed that it is very important to me that the management and the clinicians at University Hospital Limerick get all of the support that they possibly need.

I followed up with the HSE on 4th May specifying the requirement for a specialist team to be sent into UHL right away to very quickly ascertain what the main issues are, the main opportunities for improvement and what additional supports and changes are required.

The HSE have committed to establishing a team to engage with UL Hospital Group as requested. The composition of the team is being finalised to ensure that it contains all relevant expertise. I expect that the team will engage with stakeholders in the hospitals, ensuring that their valuable experience and knowledge forms part of the solutions. It is expected that the team will commence work very soon and will report as soon as possible.