065 671 9021
clareecho.ie
JAN 5 2023
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
‘People afraid to attend UHL’ by Stuart Holly editor@clareecho.ie
l Ennistymon players celebrate winning the county U21A football championship Photo by Gerard O’Neill
AN EMERGENCY meeting has been requested on foot of what’s been described as a “major internal incident” at University Hospital Limerick. Professor Declan Lyons, consultant physician and geriatrician at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), said a “serious situation” has developed with regards to patient safety at the emergency department, and described conditions at the ED as “inhumane”. In correspondence seen by The Clare Echo, Independent TD Violet Anne
Wynne has written to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly requesting an emergency meeting take place between his department and Oireachtas representatives from constituencies in the MidWest. Her letter states, “The stories that have been recounted to me over the past few days are nothing short of harrowing and are a scathing indictment of the management of this Hospital, and the HSE’s Winter Plan. “I think that for the sake of transparency what is needed
now is an emergency meeting. “My constituents are scared to attend UHL for fear of being abandoned on a trolley for three days. They have serious questions, and those questions require serious answers. I am requesting this meeting and a reply to this letter as a matter of priority given the extremely time-sensitive nature of these concerns.” She added, “It is simply a disgrace that UHL is the only Model 4 Hospital in the country allowed to operate without a complimentary Model 3 Hospital. The advice has been given time and again to reopen Ennis and it has been ignored by Government.” More on pg 5