Nenagh Hospital 'to get no additional bed capacity this year', says TD

University Hospital Limerick Group, which includes Nenagh Hospital, has responded to statements made by Clare TD Michael McNamara on bed capacity.

No new acute, sub-acute or ICU beds will be opened in the Mid West in 2022, according to HSE figures released to Deputy McNamara following a Parliamentary Question.

The HSE's Acute Operations department said that none of the six hospitals in the UL Hospitals Group will receive any of the 411 acute and 36 ICU beds scheduled to be opened this year subject to staffing and completion of some capital works.

“The provision of additional bed capacity on its own will not resolve the overcrowding problems at University Hospital Limerick, but the delivery of new acute, sub-acute and ICU beds should certainly be part of the solution,” stated Deputy McNamara, who described the exclusion of all six hospitals in Clare, Limerick, and north Tipperary as “disgraceful”.

“UHL is the most consistently overcrowded hospital in the country having recorded 76,000 attendances in 2021, up 16% compared to 2020 and up 7% on 2019, and with 91 people on trolleys awaiting a bed there today,” said Deputy McNamara.

“It is unbelievable therefore why the HSE has no plans to open any new beds this year at UHL, or at Ennis, Nenagh, Croom Orthopaedic, St. John's and the Maternity hospitals," he said.

The Independent TD said that HIQA had a limited remit and would not be able to put forward such recommendations as the upgrading of Ennis, Nenagh or St John's to Model 3 Hospitals.

There needed to be an assessment of admission and discharge policies at UHL, as well as the impact of population growth on the demand for services within the UL Hospitals Group.

"There also needs to be a serious examination of why UL Hospitals Group is not receiving any of the hundreds of new acute and ICU beds scheduled to be opened nationwide this year,” said Deputy McNamara. “The people of the Midwest continue to be failed by the HSE and by this Government."

In response, a spokesprson for University Hospital Limerick Group said that first and foremost, it should be noted that the allocation of funding for capital development project was decided by HSE nationally, and not by UL Hospitals Group.

While additional beds were welcome, the group had consistently stated that even sizeable ward block developments of the kind opened at University Hospital Limerick in the past two years would only begin to address the long-standing, well-documented hospital bed shortfall in the Mid West, they said.

"This is not to minimise the importance of additional beds. We are grateful for the new beds opened on our sites during 2020 and 2021, which have enabled us to keep vulnerable patients safe, including haematology, oncology and renal patients; to provide a safe pathway for people attending UHL for surgery; to effectively isolate Covid-positive patients; and to ensure essential services remain open," said the spokesperson.

However, the pandemic and the sustained surge in non-COVID care presenting to UHL in record-breaking numbers for several months now made it clear that additional capacity was urgently needed along with additional community based care options for patients.

A proposed new 96 bed block on the UHL site has received planning permission and has been submitted to the HSE Board for approval. 

"The most significant impacts of limitations of capacity are upon waiting lists for scheduled activity, and we would urge public representatives and indeed all stakeholders in healthcare in the Mid West to come together in an effort to ensure the development of an elective-only hospital for this region.

"This will help to ensure a level of public hospital care that the people of the Midwest deserve into the future, with an equal focus on efficient delivery of elective and emergency care.

"UL Hospitals Group management met the Minister for Health on February 17, and made the case for the core requirement for an elective hospital in the Mid West, and expressed concern about this region not being included in national plans for elective sites, now agreed for Galway and Cork," they said.

The spokesperson said that as it stood, the significant and increasing pressure arising from an 80% rate of emergency care admissions will continue to hamper the ability to provide scheduled care, adding to delays being experienced by patients.

They also pointed out that UL Hospitals Group was not working with HIQA on the development of a strategic plan.