A NATIONAL policy proposal has been issued to the Minister for Health and senior figures in the HSE to establish enhanced urgent care centre pilot sites in Ennis and Roscommon.
Both model four hospitals serving Clare and Roscommon are coming under severe overcrowding which prompted Friends of Ennis Hospital (FEH) to devise the proposal. They have asked the Department of Health and HSE to establish a joint working group to assess the proposal and the feasibility of commencing a two-site pilot programme.
Figures during the month of July from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) detail that 2,172 admitted patients were treated without a hospital bed at University Hospital Limerick, the highest figure nationally with University Hospital Galway recording 919 which was the second highest.
Nationally, 10,394 patients were treated on trolleys or in other inappropriate spaces, the highest July figure on record.
Under the proposed pilot, the range of patients who could be assessed and treated locally through enhanced diagnostics, GP-referred assessment, IV treatment, ambulatory care and short-stay clinical observation would be expanded.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, FEH Chairperson Angela Coll stated, “FEH was established as a Clare health campaign, and improving hospital access and capacity for Clare and the wider region remains our priority. However, the pressures facing UHL are not unique to the Mid-West, and we believe a national proposal must look beyond one hospital or one region.
“I was born and raised in Clare to a Roscommon father and Leitrim mother, so I have strong personal connections to both counties. I understand their geography, their rural communities and the distances many people must travel to access hospital care. That insight prompted me to look at whether the model being developed for Ennis could also work in Roscommon”.
Roscommon’s selection is not solely due to personal connections, she insisted. Ennis and Roscommon are established hospital sites with existing urgent-care infrastructure, both serve significant rural populations, and both are linked to Model 4 hospitals experiencing sustained overcrowding.
Testing the model across two HSE regions would provide stronger and more credible evidence of its impact on emergency department attendances, admissions, patient travel and hospital overcrowding. “This is not a replacement for the additional acute hospital capacity required in either region. It is a practical proposal to provide more care closer to home while longer-term hospital development continues,” Angela added.
