UHL working with private hospital to tackle chronic overcrowding
David Raleigh
HSE is in negotiations with a private hospital, tied to a major US Catholic health ministry, to try to tackle crisis patient overcrowding at the University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
The plan would see some patients at UHL treated and cared for at the €213 million private Bon Secours Hospital Limerick (BSL), which opened in September 2024, and is presently expanding its services.
The proposed patient transfer system would apply at peak times when attendances can be dangerously high at UHL, to free up capacity at UHL, which has the only 24-hour Emergency Department for a catchment of more than 400,000 persons across Limerick city and county, Clare, north Tipperary, and parts of north Cork and north Kerry.
Out of the 637 admitted patients waiting for a bed nationally, on Friday, 107 were on trolleys at UHL in corridors, the Emergency Department area, and on wards, according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
HSE TrolleyGAR figures showed, however, that there were 55 admitted patients waiting on trolleys at UHL on Friday.
The BSL is run by the Bon Secours Health System, a not-for-profit CLG (company limited guarantee), which merged with Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inc, a large Catholic health ministry based in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2019.
“As the new Bon Secours Hospital Limerick opens an additional ward, discussions are being finalised to support the public system in providing care for several medical patients from University Hospital Limerick,” stated Bon Secours in reply to questions about its current negotiations with the HSE.
“Bon Secours welcomes the opportunity to support our colleagues in the HSE as we continue the phased opening of our new facility and looks forward to continuing collaboration,” it added.
University Hospital Limerick is consistently the most overcrowded hospital nationally, and it has been the subject of several internal HSE reviews following several patient deaths that occurred during severe overcrowding conditions.
When asked about the proposed plan with Bon Secours, the HSE (Mid West) said: “HSE Mid West and Bon Secours Limerick (BSL) have been in discussions about transfer of appropriate patients to BSL to alleviate pressure on UHL during periods of peak demand.”
“It is hoped an agreement will be finalised in the coming weeks,” it said.
HSE Mid West added that “as discussions are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further”.
Overcrowding issues have persisted at UHL, despite the opening of additional bed capacity, including the opening of a €105 million 96-bed unit on the UHL site last October.
Last December, the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, said the government would support three options put forward by health watchdog, HIQA, to ease UHL’s patient overcrowding crisis.
These include the further expansion of capacity at UHL at its present site at Dooradoyle; an extension of the UHL campus on a second site under a shared governance and resourcing model; and the development of a new Model 3 hospital in the mid-west region, which would include an Emergency Department (ED), in addition to the present ED at UHL.
24-hour EDs were closed in Ennis, Co Clare, St. John's, Limerick, and Nenagh, north Tipperary, and reconfigured to UHL in 2009, after the government implemented a plan to make UHL a “Centre of Excellence”.
However, the redevelopment of the ED at UHL in 2017 has failed to adequately cater for the high attendances from around the mid-west, north Cork, and north Kerry.
The Bon Secours private hospital group also operates hospitals in Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Tralee.
