In a recent report, HIQA presented three options on how to address the overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
A Model 3 hospital in the HSE Mid-West, which includes a second emergency department (ED) for the region, is one proposed solution. The other two ideas involve expanding capacity at UHL, either at its current site in Dooradoyle or at a new second location nearby.
The suggestions outlined in this week’s report aimed to advise Minster for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill on the available solutions to the overcrowding issues at UHL, described in the report as “a source of major public concern for a number of years”.
The HIQA published the independent review this Tuesday, September 30, one day after 147 patients were recorded waiting on trolleys in the hospital.
A Model 3 hospital “admits undifferentiated acute medical patients” and “provides 24/7 acute surgery, acute medicine and critical care services,” the report explained. A Model 4 hospital, such as UHL, is a tertiary hospital that provides tertiary care.
The report stated that HIQA’s consultation process highlighted “divergent views on how best to address the issue of ED and hospital overcrowding at UHL”.
Though a new Model 3 hospital was one of the options outlined and was “more aligned” with some of the views expressed in the shareholder consultations, it does not emerge as the clear winner of the three proposals.
HIQA expressed the view that Option A, expanding the capacity at UHL’s current site, or Option B, extending the UHL hospital campus to comprise of both the existing site and another site nearby, would “likely yield the required inpatient bed capacity in the Mid-West within a shorter timeframe, thereby addressing the immediate risk to patient safety”.
In comparison, it states that Option C, creating a new Model 3 hospital, “offers the potential to meet the longer-term bed requirements, but would be least capable of addressing immediate capacity deficits, and would likely have the longest lead time”.
Dr Máirín Ryan, director of Health Technology Assessment and deputy CEO at HIQA, said, “HIQA found that the core issue impacting urgent and emergency healthcare delivery in HSE Mid-West is the significant inpatient bed capacity deficit relative to demand from patients presenting with more serious or complex care needs.”
Dr Ryan added, “This is intensified by an ever-growing demand for services, which will continue into the future as highlighted by the ESRI projections for the period up to 2040. The current situation caused by the demand-capacity gap at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and across HSE Mid-West, presents a risk to patient safety.”
