Staff at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) are treating the highest number of Covid-19 patients (16) and patients with suspected cases (13) in the State today, while caring for the most number of patients on trolleys in any hospital.
UHL recently introduced visiting restrictions in an effort to manage an outbreak of the disease on a number of wards.
In the past 14 days, there were 732 confirmed cases of the virus in the mid west region, the majority in Limerick (469), followed by Clare (163), and North Tipperary (100), according to the Department of Public Health Mid West.
The availability of general beds at UHL has improved, increasing from zero beds available (August 8th) to 14 available this Wednesday, according to HSE figures.
There were four ICU beds available at the Limerick hospital and one Covid patient was being treated in intensive care.
Sligo University Hospital was also treating 16 Covid patients and 3 suspected cases. St James’s was treating 14 Covid patients and 20 suspected cases.
Overwhelmed emergency department
Compounding pressure on UHL are high attendances at the emergency department, which is consistently the most overcrowded emergency department in the country.
This Wednesday, at UHL, there were 43 patients on trolleys awaiting admission to a bed, including (31) in the Limerick emergency department, and 12 on wards, according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
On August 3rd there were 55 patients on trolleys in the Limerick hospital’s emergency department and on wards — the highest number in any hospital in the State so far this month.
Two weeks ago UHL chief executive Colette Cowan hit back at claims by the INMO that overcrowding at the hospital was “out of control”, and that, extra beds opened this year had failed to tackle the issue.
Ms Cowan said the INMO claims were “disappointing” and “incorrect”, because she said 98 single beds opened at UHL last January had not yet been used to offset overcrowding at the emergency department, because they were being used for seriously-ill patients deemed to be at high-risk of dying if they contract Covid-19.
“All of the (new) beds are fantastic single room facilities, and they are keeping people alive, and they are keeping staff safe, but they are not serving an ED surge,” she explained.
Last month the hospital identified a 33 per cent increase in attendances at the emergency department based over the past two years.
'Record surge'
Ms Cowan said a recent “record” surge in patients, last month, was mainly due to a wave of older people attending who have experienced “delayed care because of the pandemic” and are now “acutely ill”.
“They don’t have Covid, but they have cocooned, and they have now started to circulate in society, and while they are vaccinated, they are sick with other things and (their) diagnosis has been delayed.”
“They may not have come into hospital because of the fear of Covid, so they are quite ill when they come in, so they are longer in hospital," she added.
Over 5,000 Covid deaths have been registered in Ireland since the global pandemic hit the State last year.
The Department of Public Health Mid West said this Wednesday that 47 new confirmed Covid cases had been identified in the region, including 33 in Limerick, seven in Clare, and seven in North Tipperary.
