'We expect action': Families impacted by overcrowding to meet Taoiseach as he visits Limerick hospital

That day, 86 patients languished on trolleys in the ED and on wards, while yesterday 72 patients remained on trolleys inside the hospital. 

Last month, UHL declared a major internal incident of overcrowding due to unsustainable levels of patient attendances at its ED.

In 2009, A+E departments in Ennis, Co Clare, Nenagh, Co Tipperary and St John’s Hospital, Limerick were reconfigured to the A+E unit at University Hospital Limerick, then called the Regional Hospital.

The Regional’s A+E was deemed not fit for purpose and was closed and replaced in 2017 with a €24m Emergency Department which was built to cater to a maximum of 190 patients.

However, UHL’s ED has had to take the burden of more than 220 patients coming through its doors on a daily basis.

Noleen Moran from Ballyvaughan, West Clare, who is part of the Mid West Hospital Campaign group calling for the reopening of the regional A+Es, said the group hoped to impress upon the Taoiseach the “seriousness” of the issue.

It’s only right that he comes and sees the most neglected area of the country and we’ll see if he will do anything about it.

“He should as leader of the country have better access to the information than any of us, but he doesn't have the lived experience that the families that have been impacted by overcrowding have, and that is not being considered in any of the decisions that have been made by govenment," she said. 

“That’s why it is important that the families that have been impacted by overcrowding, people who have lost loved ones, should inform policy in this area because this shouldn’t be happening.”

Ms Moran said "unnecessary deaths" are taking place in University Hospital Limerick.

"This shouldn’t be happening and it is happening as a result of government policy. The fact is far too many people are presenting at the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick and the hospital cannot cope, and the Taoiseach needs to hear this from the people who are impacted by it because nothing else seems to be resonating.”

“We appreciate that we are getting this meeting, but we expect action to follow from it as well.” 

Melanie Sheehan’s daughter Eve Cleary, 21, died in UHL in 2019 of cardiac arrest due to having blood clots, but despite presenting with several blood clot risk factors, she was not assessed for blood clots, her inquest heard.

Eve had languished on a trolley for 17 hours before being sent home where she went into cardiac arrest and was returned to UHL by ambulance but was dead shortly after her arrival.

Ms Sheehan, who is among the group meeting Mr. Varadkar, on Friday said she wants a “full independent inquiry into Eve’s death”.

“I want the Taoiseach to look into the full reinstatement of the three regional A+Es, because UHL and the Mid West can’t cope with the numbers attending Limerick,” she said.

A verdict of medical misadventure was recorded at Eve’s inquest in 2021 and Limerick Coroner, John McNamara, said there had been “missed opportunities” in the case, while he stressed this was not to fault anyone involved in her care.

On the night Eve Cleary languished in pain on a trolley and later died, UHL was operating with a skeletal staff, there was severe overcrowding in the ED, and there were no staff to operate ultrasound equipment, her inquest heard.

Meanwhile, UHL has sanctioned an internal review of the care given to 16-year-old Aoife Johnston, from Shannon, Co Clare, who died at the hospital from meningitis after she reportedly spent 16 hours on a trolley there last December.

A demonstration highlighting overcrowding at UHL is due to be held outside the hospital Friday as the Taoiseach arrives and hospital services campaigners are to unfurl a giant banner from the walls of King John’s Castle in the city.