HSE CHIEF Bernard Gloster has said the number of cancelled operations in UHL hospitals so far this year due to pressure on hospitals is “not acceptable”.

Scheduled activity across UL Hospitals Group sites were deferred for a number of days this week due to the “exceptionally high number of unwell patients”. 

Hospitals within the UL Hospitals Group include: University Hospital Limerick (UHL); University Maternity Hospital Limerick; Croom Orthopaedic Hospital; Ennis Hospital; Nenagh Hospital; and St John’s Hospital.

Elective procedures at the hospitals will resume this morning. 

In a statement on Monday, UL Hospitals Group said UHL was currently experiencing high demand.

It had appealed appealed to the public to “consider all care options” before going to UHL’s Emergency Department.

RTÉ News reported yesterday that 450 patients who were due to attend hospitals across the UHL group for elective procedures have had their surgeries cancelled since the start of this year. 

Reacting to this figures, HSE chief Bernard Gloster said “it’s not acceptable”. 

He said the procedures will be rescheduled. 

Gloster said that as of 8pm yesterday, there were 171 people on trolleys in Emergency Departments across the country, 23 of which were in Limerick. 

The HSE chief said he accepts that UHL “needs more beds”, but added that 96 further beds are being planned for the beginning of next year. 

When asked if he has confidence in the management of UHL, Gloster said: “I’m confident in that hospital for the public to go there, I’m confident for the public to use it.” 

He added: “I’m confident to say to people if you need to go to hospital, you can go to that hospital, you should go to that hospital. 

“I live in that area myself. My family go to that hospital. I don’t have any fear of the clinical care for people presenting at that hospital.”

Government criticism 

The Government has faced repeated criticism for the overcrowding at UHL and beyond from opposition parties in the Dáil this week.

Yesterday, both Labour and Sinn Féin leaders Ivana Bacik and Mary Lou McDonald used their time at Leader’s Questions to demand action on the state of the healthcare system, with particular reference to the Limerick hospital. 

Bacik said that in talking to people who have been affected by overcrowding and understaffing, including patients and healthcare workers, the word she repeatedly heard was “chaos”. 

McDonald, having raised the issue in the Dáil on Tuesday, told Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney yesterday – standing in for the Taoiseach – that the Government’s attitude was that there was “nothing to see here”.

McDonald described the Government’s position as “delusional”. 

Coveney refuted that characterisation of the Government’s position, as did Leo Varadkar in Tuesday’s session.  

On UHL, Coveney said the Government “is stepping in” and “has invested significantly in University Hospital Limerick and will continue to do so”.