The Government’s latest commitments to expand acute capacity at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and the wider Mid-West are welcome, though the region has heard similar assurances before.
Previous plans have promised relief through incremental bed and staff increases, alternative care pathways and various new services, yet these measures have repeatedly fallen short. The result has been a continuous cycle of crisis management.
The recent HIQA review on the design and delivery of urgent and emergency healthcare services in HSE Mid West once again laid bare what patients and frontline staff have known for years: the mid-west remains chronically short of acute hospital capacity.
For more than a decade, this mismatch between demand and capacity has translated into perennially high trolley numbers, an overcrowded emergency department, tragic cases of delayed care, and excessive pressure on staff in UHL.
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UHL remains the only major hospital, and 24/7 emergency department, serving Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary. The Government’s renewed commitment to expand acute bed capacity in UHL and in potential new sites and other existing hospitals in the region is therefore welcome in principle, though detail is still lacking.
Given how long any new public hospital takes to build, innovative solutions are needed. These should include careful consideration about existing public and private facilities in the region, to help deliver essential extra capacity in a faster timeframe.
The people of the Mid-West deserve better than reactive policies driven by headlines and yet more reviews. They deserve a high quality health service that caters realistically for growing population need, delivers capacity before crisis point is reached and follows through on commitments with clear timelines and accountability.
This moment must mark a major turning point, not another missed opportunity.
