UHL emergency department had 19 ‘major’ incidents in five years but Stephen Donnelly insists it’s ‘not an outlier’

The category-one incidents – which can be clinical or non-clinical – were ­reported in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

However, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, who disclosed the figures, said UHL is “ not an outlier in terms of this number when compared to other sites”.

Hospitals in the UHL group in the midwest are due to resume planned surgeries today after they were postponed earlier this week.

The measure had to be invoked because of overcrowding in its emergency department.

In a parliamentary response to Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane, Mr Donnelly said UHL emergency department reported 19 category-one incidents between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2023.

These incidents are reviewed to gain an insight into why and how an incident happened.

“Such incidents are reported in other emergency departments. This hospital is not an outlier in terms of this number when compared to other sites,” the minister said.

“A category-one incident is a clinical and non-clinical incident. They are rated as major or extreme on the HSE’s risk impact table.”

A spokesman for the hospital group said yesterday the hospital management team had “decided that elective surgical activity across all sites – University Hospital Limerick, St John’s, Ennis, Nenagh and Croom Orthopaedic Hospitals – will resume in full from Thursday morning”.

“Postponement of scheduled elective activity is a decision of last resort that no hospital manager wishes to make, and University of Limerick Hospitals Group regrets the impact on any patients who have been impacted by deferrals this week,” the spokesman added.

“We will work to ensure these ­appointments are rescheduled at the earliest opportunity.”

The emergency department has been under the spotlight following the case of Aoife Johnston, a 16-year-old from Shannon, Co Clare, who died in the hospital in December 2022. She had waited 12 hours to be treated for sepsis ­after contracting meningitis. A report on her care is currently being carried out by former chief justice Frank Clarke.

A preliminary report is also due into another tragic death involving a 16-year-old girl, who died on January 29 this year after she was rushed to UHL suffering breathing difficulties.

According to HSE figures, there were 62 patients on trolleys in the Limerick hospital yesterday afternoon.

Another 49 were in surge capacity beds, which are normally used for day and other procedures. Ten patients were waiting for a bed for more than 24 hours including one patient over 75 years old.

The hospital has the only 24-hour emergency department to cater for population of the midwest and needs extra capacity.

Mr Donnelly said: “Since 2019, the budget for this hospital increased by 45pc. They are building two new 96-bed inpatient blocks. This is in addition to 98 beds since 2020. Some 150 additional beds have been opened in the hospital group since 2020.”