AMBULANCES IN THE Midwest will be able to bring patients “directly” to Ennis Hospital instead of them waiting on a trolley at University Hospital Limerick as part of plans to ease record breaking overcrowding at UHL’s emergency department.

In a note sent to staff in the region today, Hospital Group management said “patients can be transported directly to the Medical Assessment Unit in Ennis Hospital”, with the change taking effect from Monday. 

It is set to operate from 8am to 6pm Monday-Friday. 

A “major internal incident” was declared at University Hospital Limerick on Monday as it became overwhelmed with patient numbers, with calls from staff representatives and campaigners for measures to ease the burden.

It is hoped the new pathway will help with the overflow of patients from Limerick, providing patients in Co Clare and surrounds treatment closer to home. 

The downgrading of Ennis Hospital, as well as other similarly sized hospitals in Limerick city and Nenagh, has been highlighted by doctors and health campaigners in the Midwest as the key factor behind the overcrowding.  

A decision taken as part of reconfiguration moves over a decade ago saw the emergency departments closed in each.

The University Limerick Hospital Group and HSE have been contacted for comment and on whether the reconfiguration is a long-term measure.

It is hoped the move will also free up ambulances at a quicker rate to deal with more calls. 

The move was welcomed by the region’s Midwest Hospital Campaign group. 

“The key thing for us is that it means the ambulances will stay in the county and can get to people quicker,” Noeleen Moran, a coordinator with the group, told The Journal, adding that ambulances are currently not permitted to “dock” at Ennis with a patient.

“It will also mean some patients can be treated in Ennis which makes a huge difference as those people can be looked after much closer to home and their own community.”

Moran added that while the news could make a “real difference”, it should “not just be moving on the problem instead of investing in our public hospitals and Ennis does need that in the form beds and extra staff resourcing”. 

Co Clare councillor Cillian Murphy, who is a member of the area’s Regional Health Forum, said the change comes following a pilot project in Cork which had been discussed at the forum.

“A pilot has been run in north Cork where ambulances can divert with patients direct to Mallow and it would appear that the same process us now being rolled out here in Ennis.

“This is not the golden arrow but it will remove a cohort of patients from ED that didn’t need to go there,” he added.

With reporting by Garreth MacNamee