Patients at risk as no date set to resume surgeries at UHL
Thousands of patients in need of surgery and medical investigations whose care has been cancelled for weeks in order to relieve overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) face increasing risk, with no date for an end to the severe measure in sight, it emerged yesterday.
The University Limerick Hospitals Group was unable to say when the far-reaching virtual freeze on treating waiting list patients – which began nearly three weeks ago – will be lifted. It was sanctioned by HSE chief Bernard Gloster in order to ease the trolley crisis in UHL.
It comes after it emerged the chief executive of the hospital group Colette Cowan has stepped aside as a condition of a disciplinary process which is pending relating to the death in December 2022 of teenager Aoife Johnston.
Aoife (16) died from sepsis after waiting for more than 12 hours on a trolley in the hospital. Retired judge Frank Clarke, who was asked to examine the issue of alleged accountability, recently delivered his report. Two other senior figures in the hospital were also notified of disciplinary proceedings.
A spokeswoman for the HSE yesterday could not say who is now in direct charge of the day-to-day running of the hospital group.
Marie McMahon of the MidWest Hospital Campaign said she is very concerned that patients whose surgery or procedures have been put on hold will deteriorate, but the danger to them is out of public view. “I am also worried about delayed diagnosis of patients who were due medical investigations and scans and that something serious will not be picked up on time,” she said.
“Mr Gloster referred to these cancellations as a reset. But we strongly object to that term.”
She said the term disguises the potentially serious knockon effects of effectively pulling down the shutters on the care of so many patients for so long.
A spokesman for the hospital said yesterday that elective, day surgery and outpatient activity “remains significantly curtailed” across the hospital group.
“However, management and healthcare teams have agreed a limited increase in the number of exemptions from the deferrals, in order to manage more cases of high clinical priority.
“These adjustments include some outpatient activity, endoscopies and day cases. The impact of this careful recalibration is being closely monitored, and its impact on management of patient flow in UHL and across our sites continually assessed.”