Additional step-down beds and longer opening hours for injury units are among a range of measures which have been announced with the aim of tackling overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
The hospital consistently records the highest level of overcrowding in the State, with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) regularly raising concerns over the safety of patients and hospital staff.
During a visit to UHL on Wednesday, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly announced a range of measures which will be put in place to alleviate pressure on the UHL, which serves the Mid West region, covering Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary.
The plans include the procurement of a 50-bed community nursing unit in Nenagh, Co Tipperary to act as a step-down transition and rehab facility for one year, and 20 such permanent beds will be procured in Clare.
Mr Donnelly added that one of the new 96-bed blocks at UHL will instead have 71 new beds, up from the previously committed 48.
The Minister said he has mandated all steps to speed up the delivery of a second new 96-bed block at UHL, in addition to 16 fast-built beds to build capacity ahead of the winter surge.
Opening hours at the region's three Acute Medial Assessment Units, in Ennis, Nenagh, and St John's Hospital in Limerick, will be extended to 24/7 on a phased basis, and safe staffing levels will be extended to all wards at UHL, as per the national rollout, Mr Donnelly said.
To tackle overcrowding in the hospital's Emergency Department, he added that UHL will provide GP and Advanced Nurse Practitioner-on-the-door services.
Speaking about the persistent level of overcrowding at UHL, Mr Donnelly said: "This continued problem is not acceptable to me as Minister, and it most certainly is not acceptable to the people of this region.
He added: "Reform and change are difficult, they challenge us all, but reform and change are required here in UHL if we are to provide the service the people of this region expect and deserve."
Reporting by Muireann Duffy
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