*Photograph: John Mangan
A “major protest” is to take place on February 1st with the demand of getting better healthcare in the Mid-West.
On Monday morning last, a visiting ban was introduced at University Hospital Limerick while a few hours later UL Hospitals Group issued a statement appealing to members of the public to consider all care options before presenting themselves at UHL. 92 patients were on trolleys on the same day.
In light of this and the increase in patients on trolley numbers throughout 2019, the Mid-West Hospital Campaign announced plans for “a major protest”. Spokesperson for the group in Clare, Noeleen Moran said the demonstration would “demand action to address this crisis in Healthcare in the Mid-West. We cannot standby and allow this intolerable situation to continue into 2020”.
Trolley watch figures from the INMO indicated a 21 percent increase in 2019. A total of 120,180 patients were left on trolleys at UHL, Ennis and Nenagh in 2019, up 3,529 on the previous year.
“This is an alarming and totally unacceptable situation. It requires radical action to resolve. We are demanding the reopening of the Emergency Departments at Ennis, Nenagh and St Johns. We want an end to the recruitment embargo so that hospitals will be properly staffed and we want our public hospitals to be safe and properly resourced so that they can provide proper quality care to the people living in the Mid-West,” Moran told The Clare Echo.
The Enough is Enough March for Proper Healthcare will take place on Saturday 1st February 2020 assembling at St John’s Hospital Limerick at 1pm and marching to Bedford Row in the city centre. “We are asking for a massive turnout to end the healthcare emergency in Limerick, Clare and Tipperary,” she concluded.
