Limerick Hospital Forced To Transfer Patients Due To Overcrowding Crisis

University Hospital Limerick has today been forced to transfer patients to other hospitals in the region in order to deal with a major overcrowding crisis. The hospital has been under serious pressure in recent months and Breaking News is reporting that the patients are now being moved to facilities in Clare and Tipperary due to an increase in the number of people presenting to its Emergency Department. There are 55 people currently on trolleys at the hospital, with the crisis blamed on an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug and "older age profile of patients presenting along with the complexity of issues they have". Earlier this week, Health Minister Leo Varadkar admitted the situation in Emergency Department was now “considerably worse than this time last year or the year before”.

He also vowed that the health service would be “redoubling efforts” in the weeks ahead to deal with overcrowding and this would involve the creation of 175 additional community nursing unit beds and step-down beds.