University Hospital Limerick is not fit for purpose and more people will die as a result, a campaigner has said.
It comes after the UL Hospital group, which is made up of six hospitals in the Midwest, suspended a significant number of planned services due to emergency department overcrowding.
"Significant reductions in scheduled care are in effect at UHL, Ennis, Nenagh, St John's and Croom hospitals," the group said on Thursday.
"Services at University Maternity Hospital Limerick continue as normal. Affected patients are being contacted by our staff and will be rescheduled as soon as possible."
It added that the decision to defer elective, day surgery and outpatient appointments until further notice "has been taken in order to prioritise urgent and emergency care for our sickest patients".
Yesterday, the Irish Hospital Consultant Association (IHCA) described the decision as "unbelievable, unnecessary, and an abandonment of the people of the Midwest".
'People will continue to die'
Midwest Hospital Campaign Group spokesperson Melanie Cleary told Newstalk Breakfast the Government has failed people in the area.
"I don't think UHL is fit for purpose anymore; I think that our Government have failed us completely in the Midwest," she said.
"I think that all our local representatives should be up in arms about this again - they haven't actually been at all.
"They can't give up because they're letting people down, they're letting us all down.
"People have died and will continue to die down to the failures of UHL".
General views of University Hospital Limerick in December 2020. Image: PA Images / AlamyMs Cleary said she feels the move was completely unnecessary.
"I understand that it must have been a very difficult decision for them but it was completely unnecessary when in our region we have three A&Es that were downgraded to model 2 hospitals," she said.
"We know that St John's, the building might not be in a state to be upgraded, but we need a new A&E in our city now.
"We've had teams go into UHL and nothing has been sorted.
"We've seen the [IHCA] come out yesterday and they've said that it's one of the starkest developments in Irish healthcare - and it is".
'People are suffering here'
Ms Cleary said those on waiting lists have already been waiting too long.
"We know that the appointments have been backed up for a while now," she said.
"We've seen that elective, in-patient and day surgery and outpatient appointments have been deferred.
"People are suffering here in the Midwest because these appointment are needed."
Ms Cleary added that she plans to run in the next general election to bring more attention to the issue.
In May the health watchdog HIQA said UHL had fallen “significantly short” of national targets for emergency department waiting times.
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