Calls For Expansion Of MidWest Services For Older People Amid ED Death Count

Clare FM

Fear has been expressed the number of patient deaths will grow at University Hospital Limerick without an urgent enhancement of services at Ennis General. New HSE figures show that 239 patients have died in the Emergency Department at UHL since 2019, which is more 22% above that of the next busiest facility on the Western Seaboard, Galway University Hospital. Earlier this week, HSE MidWest Regional Executive Officer Sandra Broderick told the local authority, that the Community Healthcare Organisation of Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary has by far the oldest demographic in the country. Friends of Ennis Hospital Spokesperson Deirdre Culligan has been telling Clare FM's Daragh Dolan that services for older people and Local Injury Unit hours need to be scaled up as soon as possible to alleviate pressure.