As many as 239 patients died on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) over the five year period from 2019 to 2023.
The figures were presented at the monthly regional health forum attended by councillors from Donegal down to Limerick.
The figures came in response to a question from Clare councillor Cillian Murphy who asked for a breakdown of the numbers of deaths of inpatients on trolleys in emergency departments at a number of hospitals across the region from Letterkenny, Sligo, Galway and Limerick over the five year period up to 2023.
The forum was told that the number of patients who died on trolleys at UHL during that time was 239.
In a response submitted by UHL, CEO Colette Cowan she said the figure included patients admitted to the hospital for whom a bed had been booked but who were in the emergency department (ED) when they died.
The figures do not include those patients who passed away by the time they arrived at UHL ED or those critically injured patients who were brought directly to resuscitation following an accident or sudden illness.
The majority were triaged as the highest category patients with a life-threatening illness or patients at end of life.
A single room pathway is in place in the ED for patients who are seriously ill or dying to expedite admission to the main hospital.
Figures presented to the forum by the Saolta hospital group which manages hospitals in Galway, Mayo Sligo and Donegal show that 195 patients died in the ED at Galway University hospital, and 150 died at the ED in Sligo University hospital, but it could not be confirmed if they were on trolleys or in treatment bays.
Up to 117 patients died at the emergency departments at Mayo University hospital and 108 at Letterkenny hospital, the majority in the hospitals resuscitation rooms, but the actual location of their deaths is not routinely documented.
Councillor Murphy said each of these cases across the whole health forum region is a terrible individual traumatic experience for families and friends, and those presenting at ED’s are by definition in need of critical intervention, but he said we need to see the hard facts about the figures so that changes can be made to reduce them as much as possible.
UHL continues to see high volumes of presentations at its Emergency department – 80,052 last year.
And 30,642 people had attended the ED up to 9 May this year, a rise of around 12% on last year – the bulk of them 58% from Limerick but 7,657 or 25% were from Clare.
The Friends of Ennis hospital group say this data is concerning and supports their call for an upgrade of Ennis to a model 3 hospital to support the staff at UHL and the patients presenting there.
UHL hospital group say it continues to take measures to relieve congestion at its ED and provide alternative pathways to care including its geriatric emergency care for over those aged over-75 which is a 24-hour service on weekdays, and its GP at the door service, and the medical assessment units at Ennis Nenagh and St Johns are to be opened 24/7 on a phased basis this year.
