*Colette Cowan.
ON A WEEK of further record breaking overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, the Chief Executive of UL Hospitals Group has gone on temporary leave.
Senior staff at UHL received an email on Friday where they were informed that Colette Cowan, CEO of UL Hospitals Group is on “leave period” but the correspondence did not specify why and for how long.
Overcrowding at UHL hit record highs on two occasions this week with figures of 150 on Wednesday and 138 on Tuesday.
Sonya Cotter who has worked in the HSE’s Special Delivery Unit is to become acting CEO from Wednesday, The Irish Examiner have reported. Prof Cowan remained in her role as recently as Tuesday of this week, the CEO does not work on site at UHL with management’s offices located in an industrial estate in Raheen.
Prior to Cowan’s temporary leave, Friends of Ennis Hospital had called on Clare’s Oireachtas members to summon UHL management before the Dáil to “explain why the increase in staffing has not resulted in a decrease in trolleys. We further call upon you to put a motion of no confidence in hospital management before the Dáil”.
A motion seeking the upgrade of Ennis Hospital to a model three hospital has also been sought by the Friends of Ennis Hospital.
