University Hospital Limerick bed capacity
Deputy Quinlivan urged the Government to accept HIQA’s recommendations and address the severe bed shortage and trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick. The Minister said all three options are under consideration, acute bed capacity is the priority, and the newly opened beds should begin to reduce pressure while further beds are progressed.
The Minister for Health is present. On Monday, she opened a 96-bed unit in Limerick, which is very welcome, as it has been long awaited. Unfortunately, it will only be able to play a small part in dealing with the crisis we have in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. The ESRI estimates that we need 600 beds in the region. The UHL group itself tells me that 400 beds are required in the region just to stand still, not taking into account the demographics or any growth in population.
The recently released HIQA report had three recommendations. I ask the Government to accept all three of them. The first is extra capacity at UHL. The second is to build an additional site very close to UHL, which would be managed by it. The third one is a model 3 hospital for the mid-west region. We definitely need an answer on the third recommendation. Will the Taoiseach commit to doing that? The mid-west region has been let down since the reconfiguration in 2008-09 when the emergency departments in Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's hospitals were closed. Unfortunately, people in the region have suffered since then.
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To date, 19,248 people have waited on trolleys.
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As I said when I was in the hospital in Limerick, all three options are being considered. Naturally, our priority is the acute in-bed capacity, which is what HIQA identified as the priority. We are trying to progress that. A total of 96 beds were opened this week. While that will not take 96 people out of the emergency department, because some people will stay for three, four or five days, I see it having an impact on trolley numbers already in the past seven days. There is a reduction but it will not eradicate the overall number on trolleys. What will do so is the next 96 beds and the beds to come after that. Thankfully, we got planning permission last week for the next 96-bed block, which is really important. We will have essentially doubled the number of beds in the region between 2020 and 2028. We are considering all three options, as I said very publicly on Monday in Limerick in front of everyone, including the media.
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When will the Minister make the decision?
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As I said in Limerick-----