Gov and HSE fail to provide promised beds for UHL
Labour Party Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD has described further delays to the provision of 60 extra beds in University Hospital Limerick as unacceptable.
Deputy Kelly said:
“According to media reports today, the chief executive of the University Hospital Limerick group has admitted that the 60 bed block that was supposed to come on stream in 2020 has been pushed out for another year.
“Senior figures in the HSE and in Government promised the delivery of 60 new beds in 2019, then in 2020 and now this has been pushed back yet again to 2021.
“This is not acceptable. The people of Limerick, Tipperary and Clare have been promised time and time again that these 60 beds would be opening in 2020. This is another empty promise to the people of the Midwest.
“Between the lack of delivery of this 60 bed block and the goalposts being continuously moved on the 96 bed block, how many times can Minister Simon Harris and the HSE lead patients and staff down the garden path when it comes to increasing the quantity of beds in UHL?
“The news that the 60 bed block is being delayed comes in the shadow of figures released by the INMO that show University Hospital Limerick was the most overcrowded Hospital in the country in 2019, with just under 14,000 people waiting on trolleys last year.
“It is time for the Minister and the HSE to provide realistic timeframes for when these vital beds will be provided.”