Consultants at University Hospital Limerick urged to sign new contract to reform services
Ireland Picture: Sasko Gloster Photocall Bernard / Lazarov Hse Ceo
HSE ceo Bernard Gloster has appealed to consultants at University Hospital Limerick to switch to a new contract to help reform services.
The HSE also defended clinical advice to close emergency departments at nearby smaller hospitals to the Oireachtas Health Committee.
So far 1,543 consultants nationally have switched to a new Slaintecare contract.
However, Mr Gloster said the conversion rate at UHL is “disappointing” at 34.
“I would urge consultants in the university hospital group in Limerick to seriously revisit any decision around taking up the new contract,” he said.
He told Senator Martin Conway other plans include having a GP in the Emergency Department.
“It will start on a test basis, if it proves itself to be efficient and working, I’m hoping to make available the resource to make it 24-hour but there may be a pressure in staffing it,” he said.
Medical Assessment Units at Ennis and Nenagh hospitals will operate 24-hours a day, and this is being considered for St John’s in Limerick.
He is also examining whether some wards slated for closure at UHL could be renovated instead.
He agreed with Sinn Fein’s David Cullinane’s assessment of trolley numbers, saying: “I don’t dispute for one minute the conclusion that what is happening in Limerick is unacceptable, it is unacceptable.” He said plans to temporarily operate a new nursing home in Nenagh as a sub-acute unit for UHL will help alleviate these pressures.
HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said clinical advice to close EDs in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s hospitals remains relevant.
He emphasized smaller hospitals at Model 2 level do not have the medical backup needed to operate an emergency department.
“There is no sense, in my view, in revising that (advice) to go to a situation where people go to the wrong hospital first time where they can’t get the effective treatment,” he said.
He told Mr Conway the advice “is all the more pertinent now Senator than it was when it was first drafted almost ten years ago.
“Because care is constantly evolving, more complex and expectations are always rising. For example, the treatment of stroke in my own medical lifetime now involves provision of time-critical treatment that can affect and improve the outcomes of people with stroke, where decades ago there was no active treatment.” Mr Gloster defended the recruitment freeze saying exemptions mean hiring continues in vital areas including nursing.