Browne wants improved hospital care in Mid-West

Tipperary Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne has expressed serious concern that University Hospital Limerick is not equipped to deliver safe and timely care.

He said that the opportunity to build up bed capacity to tackle overcrowding had been squandered over the last four years by Government.

The comments follow remarks made by Prof Conor Deasy, President of the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine, who warned of a “massive capacity issue” in hospitals across the state.

Teachta Browne said: “The situation in hospital emergency departments across the state including University Hospital Limerick is chaotic. Workers are trying their hardest, doing long exhausting shifts and taking care of patients the best they can and I commend them.

“However, the Government abandoned patients and workers when they made a deliberate decision to underfund the health service in the Budget and failed to make investments in capacity over the last three Budgets. Hospitals simply don’t have the infrastructure that they need.

“It seems that Government has become immune to the unsafe, degrading, and undignified experience many patients face in overcrowded hospitals. I agree entirely with Prof Conor Deasy, President of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine. People deserve help in the right places when they need it. Patients who need emergency or urgent care should not put off attending hospital due to long waits, but the long waits need to be addressed.

“Healthcare workers in University Hospital Limerick are trying their best but are working with one hand tied behind their back because they lack the bed, diagnostic, and theatre capacity that they need.

“The opportunity to build up capacity over the last four years has been squandered. We know there is a 1,000-bed deficit across the state, and that is reflect in the trolley figures on a daily basis and in tens of thousands of cancelled appointments every month.

“The Government must urgently revise their budget for the health service in 2024 to target severe deficits – they must fund the promised 1500 hospital beds and deliver the statutory home care scheme. Local government TDs for this constituency must explain why they backed this appalling budget, despite the terrible consequences for the health service in the areas of Tipperary served by University Hospital Limerick.

“Patients and workers in there deserve better. A Sinn Féin government would get to grips with the crisis in our healthcare service and ensure patients get the high-quality, timely care they need.”