A man who spent 16 hours in a chair at University Hospital Limerick has said its Accident and Emergency Department is not fit for purpose.
61-year-old Robert Kilmartin was admitted to A&E there a little over a week ago for symptoms related to an autoimmune disease.
Robert told Lunchtime Live his condition means he has problems with his kidneys.
"I went in with severe cramping and muscle spasms and basically was sitting on a chair for 16 hours," he said.
"I was then given a trolley and subsequently at 3am I was shipped off to a ward.
"I asked was I getting a bed and I was told, 'No I was going to be kept on the trolley'.
"I was put on the dementia ward, which was quite a surprise to me.
"A person in my position really shouldn't be in that kind of ward".
'The A&E is broken'
Robert said he was on the trolley for another night before getting a bed.
"I contracted the flu virus while I was in there and put into a room on my own for the remainder of my stay," he said.
Robert said the hospital works very well outside of A&E.
"The actual A&E itself it's horrific, it's a horrific experience for anyone, for the elderly especially," he said.
"It's a nightmare, even the thought of going to A&E in UL [means] the stress levels rise straight away.
"Once you get past A&E and it's in the system it's a brilliant hospital.
"It's top notch; the staff there are absolutely overworked, they are absolutely brilliant and the care you get is exceptional.
"The A&E part of it is broken, it's not fit for purpose".
'You don't get fed'
Robert said being on the chair meant he was not offered food.
"I hadn't slept for nearly 24 hours," he said.
"I was just walking around, I couldn't even sit in the chair for so long.
"Another thing is when you're sitting on a chair, and you're not inside the actual ward part, you don't get fed.
"You only get a cup of tea and sandwich if you're actually on a trolley, so you don't get nothing basically until you get a trolley".
Robert said the system in place is 'chaos'.
"A doctor told a nurse that I had to go and dialyse, when I came back from dialysis I was to have my bloods done again and an ECG done again," he said.
"When I came back down a shift change had been done and all the new nurses were on and nobody knew anything.
"So, I never got the bloods and I never got the ECG," he added.
Robert said he has had this experience on "numerous occasions" attending the A&E in the last decade.
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