'Significant risks' to patient safety remain at UHL's Emergency Department, inspection finds
University Hospital Limerick
“SIGNIFICANT RISKS” to patient safety remain at the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick, an unannounced inspection last November has found.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) carried out the inspection at UHL on 21 November last.
UHL’s Emergency Department has been consistently and chronically overcrowded for years and the hospital has frequently been in the news in recent months.
The publication of the Hiqa report comes after a verdict of medical misadventure was returned last at the inquest into the death of 16-year-old Aoife Johnston at UHL in December.
She died of bacterial meningitis on 19 December 2022 after a 12-hour wait in the overcrowded Emergency Department.
The inspection of the Emergency Department found that since the last inspection, the hospital had made improvements in resourcing, supports and alternate pathways.
It had established an Urgent and Emergency Care Directorate to coordinate the strategic and operational function of the emergency and urgent care services across the six hospital sites of the UL Hospitals Group.
However, it also found that “significant risks to patient safety remain”.
It found that the ongoing mismatch between the number of people attending the Emergency Department and the hospital’s capacity resulted in overcrowding, with patients admitted to the hospital continuing to be accommodated in the ED.
Hiqa said there was evidence that the hospital management and staff were aware of the need to repect and promote the dignity and privacy of people receiving care in the ED.
However, it said that the boarding of 35 admitted patients in the ED, 19 of whom were on trolleys in corridors, did impact on meaningful promotion of dignity and privacy for all patients and was not consisent with the human rights-based approach to care supported and promoted by the watchdog.
Yesterday, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he had “significant concerns” about UHL and the challenges that remain with overcrowding in hospitals.
On Tuesday, the HSE said a support team will be put in place in UHL in an attempt to ease overcrowding.
Harris said the team will begin its work immediately and over the next four weeks, it will help to “devise a number of actions” to help pressures in UHL.
“It will work with the team in place in the hospital to manage patient flow and to de-escalate the current pressures being experienced,” Harris said.
With reporting by Press Association