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CONSULTANTS IN EMERGENCY medicine are now rostered to work at evenings and weekends – and are not just on call – in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said.
The spotlight been on the hospital in recent months due chronic overcrowding issues.
Trolley numbers at UHL have increased by 39% so far this year and the Department of Health said these figures are in “contrast” with trends elsewhere, with the average morning trolley count falling by 11% over the first quarter of the year.
A review is currently being carried out to consider the case for a second emergency department in the Midwest region in light of ongoing pressures at the ED in University Hospital Limerick.
Donnelly said today that even if a second emergency department is recommended, it will be “years” before it opens for patients.
The terms of reference for the review, which is to be carried out by HIQA, are yet to be decided.
Donnelly said the focus must remain on the overcrowding issues happening in the here and now at UHL, stating that this is being solved with workforce reforms and increasing capacity.
The issue of reopening emergency departments at Nenagh and Ennis featured today in the Oireachtas Public Petitions committee today, a proposal put forward by the Midwest Hospital Campaign group.
Emergency departments are part of larger hospitals and smaller ones in the region, such as in Nenagh and Ennis, closed around 15 years ago.
There are currently four injury units in the region, but only one ED at University Hospital Limerick.
Speaking at the committee meeting today, Donnelly said working practice reforms which have proven successful in other hospitals have also been agreed at UHL.
This includes senior decision makers being rostered on site both in the emergency department and throughout the hospital after hours and on the weekends.
Having paid visits to the hospital and spoken to staff, the minister said it was his experience that there were no senior decision-makers rostered on after hours and on weekends.
He said it was the “single biggest concern” at the hospital that from Friday to Monday, there were no senior consultants on site.
He said a consultant was on-call, as was referenced in the Aoife Johnston inquest, but the minister pointed out that the consultant did not come into the hospital after being called on the telephone.
Johnston died of bacterial meningitis on 19 December 2022 after a 12-hour wait in the overcrowded emergency department of University Hospital Limerick.
She had initially presented to the hospital on 17 December, and was eventually admitted to intensive care, but passed away shortly after.
A verdict of medical misadventure was returned at the inquest into the death of the teenager.
Dr Jim Gray, who was the only ED consultant on call the weekend Johnston died, but who was not required to be on site, told the inquest that not only was the ED a “death trap” on the night, “it is still a death trap”, five years after Aoife’s death.
He reiterated that he received one phone call on the night about the unfolding overcrowding crisis but that he was never told about Aoife.
Addressing the issue of reopening emergency departments in other hospitals in the region, Donnelly said the clear clinical advice he has received is that an emergency department attached to lower model hospitals, such as Nenagh and Ennis, “is simply unsafe”.
Under questioning by Sinn Féín Paul Gavan, Donnelly said Sinn Féin has not called for the reopening of the emergency departments at those hospitals.
He said the party’s spokesperson David Cullinane “deserves great credit for his resistance to those calls and said he would follow the clinical advice”.
The minister said clinical advice is to reopen emergency departments in those hospitals, as they stand “would be very dangerous”.
Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe questioned the decision to close the emergency departments in 2009, stating that political players should have spoken up and said more to prevent the closures.
He said the centre of excellence which was promised by former Health Minister Mary Harney never materialised.
Donnelly told the committee that the workforce at UHL has increased by 43%, with the number of emergency medicine consultants increasing by a half, going from 10 to 15.
The minister said there is “still a lot of work to be done” to ensure the money from the state has been allocated appropriately at UHL.
Independent TD Michael Lowry said he is concerned that there is now a confidence issue with the public in which they are afraid to go into the hospital.
He said from patients he has spoken to, once someone is seen in the ED, the care is good, stating that he believes that needs to be said.
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Nice to see he is pro active can’t say that for many other ministers……
I hate to admit it but I agree
@Tony Skillington: Gotta agree. I can’t see what we, as a nation, can’t do this with all our drug and medical devices purchasing and use the combined purchasing power of all the countries involved. You can be certain, should this become effective, other countries would probably ask to join this group, which makes being a founder member all the more important.
Handling his brief admirably and then some!
Good call, Mr. Harris.
At least he is making an effort
Is it ethically right to spend 160k on one patient for medication??? That’s the question. I’d disagree and say it isn’t ethically right
Would you say that if it was your child?
I’d say you are wrong. Jillian who is mentioned in the story spent 9 or 10 months of the year in hospital before starting Orkambi. For the hospital bed alone this would have cost over €250,000. Add in medications and doctors, nurses costs and you are at probably €400,000. Since starting Orkambi 3 years ago she has been hospitalised for 10 weeks. So her hospital bill has reduced from approximately €1.2million in that time to €120000. Add 3 years of Orkambi at full cost of €457k makes a saving to the state of €633k. And she also gets to have a life.
This is the reality of the situation.
Would you rather they spend over 100k on a sick child or is it better to look after the bond holders or set up the quango Irish Water. If they are going to “squander money”, which they are good at, why not squander it on cf patients. I am all for it.. Fair play to Minister Harris by the way. He is trying. Hope he succeeds.
This lis leadership If we had more ministers with this kind of problem solving we would improve our country
Have a read of this story: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/cerberus-paid-1-900-tax-on-77m-project-eagle-profits-1.2885720 We can’t afford this lifesaving drug but those slimey b*xtards in government allow these vulture funds to pay zero tax on their million of profit. I’ve said it before on here, this country would really make you sick at times yet the sheep still vote the traitors in!
@PaulJ: Saw that earlier Paul. You just know which trough the government snouts are in……..
Are you saying we should buy these drugs at ANY cost? Cop on
The drugs companies must love this. They just name the price knowing that if the government refuses to accept it, the people will turn on the government. Every euro we overpay is money gone from the health budget, money that could be used elsewhere. Business requires negotiation and this is a great move by Harris. The more pressure put on the drugs companies the better the savings will be. Saying that the government is depriving CF patients is just the usual populist rhetoric
Free water though……
surely the cost of the drug would be cheaper than the cost of cf sufferers spending half their life in hospitals.
I heard of someone dying on Sunday past where paramedics took quite a while before arriving. They had a huge area to cover so not their fault….cutbacks they said.
I also see deductions in my payslip rising all the time and am told I’ll have to work for extra years because the Country can’t afford pensions (this is obviously less serious than the paramedic issue but valid I think).
The CF medication is expensive. Can we afford it?
Am I alone in thinking that if we didn’t throw so much money at the people who WON’T work we could have a much better Country.
Decent people are suffering because no one has the balls to deal with the real issues.
I don’t see it changing soon.
“Speaking today, Harris said: “Our country has a great track record of making new and innovative treatment available to patients. I am determined that this continues.” Really Simon?
Yes the new and innovative treatments are now available on hospital trolleys in the corridor.
Selfie while driving that’s clever
If they can give a bonus to the long term scroungers at 220 million..at the tax payers cost. .I’d rather it go to the CF people. .
He should email instead of write
Legalize cannibis ringfence the tax take for the health budget…..then the gardai may be able to tackle the heroin scurge everyone wins except the publicians and and that has to be a good thing
Vertex should be ashamed of themselves . Hate big pharma companies . What an obscene price to charge per patient . Can nothing be done to stop such greed.
Is that not passing the buck??? Grow a pair and you Mr Harris make the decision to make life easier for people with cf! There are 500 approximately with Cf, How many junkies are there and how much is spent on methadone????
To all…..check out jonathon sugerman on u tube be prepaired to be shocked to the cor…..he was a banker here at the start of the crash………he has the goods on ……Bruton, noonan , burton. And dragi
When ‘saving’ money is more important than saving lives…….we are in a bad way as a Society.
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