University Hospital Limerick has been labelled the health service’s “greatest nightmare” by Mary Lou McDonald. 

The hospital has hit the headlines in recent days, with many patients experiencing significant waits for treatment. 

Speaking to Josh Crosbie for The Hard Shoulder, the Sinn Féin President said improvements need to be made at the hospital.  

“UHL has consistently been the greatest nightmare in terms of trolley count, the emergency department under pressure and deaths,” she said. 

In Budget 2024, the health service was allocated €23.5 billion to spend but Deputy McDonald said the amount was insufficient and the Government has “consciously underfunded health”. 

“Now we have UHL, they’re short of 200 nursing posts for the funded beds,” she said. 

“There is a [recruitment] embargo, a failure to recruit at the level that is required, they’ve talked about additional beds.” 

General views of University Hospital Limerick. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Deputy McDonald described it as “quite scandalous” that UHL is understaffed and job vacancies are impacting the level of care that is provided to patients. 

“Stephen Donnelly and all of the Government need to accept that more beds are required and more staff are required,” she said. 

“The hospital is understaffed; equally, the healthcare assistants, the hygiene workers, cleaners, catering - you’re short about 270 posts there. 

“So, when you’re 270 posts short, how on earth can a busy, busy hospital operate?

“I think it’s most unfair, in fact I think it’s quite scandalous that staff are expected to work under that level of pressure in those conditions by a Government that knows that they’re short staffed and that they’re being short-changed.” 

'Very distressing' 

One recent visitor to UHL was Larry, who brought his 88-year-old uncle to UHL after he dislocated his shoulder. 

In total, they spent 31 hours in the hospital before he was discharged.

“We sat in a chair for about 14 hours to put back his shoulder in at 5.30 in the morning,” Larry said. 

“We went home the next day… It was very distressing.” 

University Hospital Limerick, 29-7-23. Image: Karlis D / Alamy

Larry said the staff at UHL were “brilliant” but the hospital has “no organisation”. 

“There’s not enough staff,” he said. 

“And the staff that are there are working flat out.

“We had people talking to us, trying to sort out the problem and being called away to a bigger problem.” 

In a statement to Newstalk, UHL said the recent experiences of patients is "not the kind of care we wish to provide." 

"During the first quarter of this year, there have been 21,298 presentations to the Emergency Department at UHL, representing a 14% increase on the same period last year," a spokesperson said.

We are following our hospital escalation plan to maximise patient flow and create additional capacity to manage the consistently high levels of activity in the hospital."

Main image: Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin leader. Image: Photograph: Sam Boal / © RollingNews.ie