Mulcahy welcomes important steps to address hospital overcrowding

Dec. 23, 2014 - PRLog -- Senator Tony Mulcahy has today (Tuesday 23 December 2014) welcomed what he described as "important steps" to find long-term solutions to overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick.

Senator Mulcahy was speaking after Health Minister Leo Varadkar convened the first meeting of the Emergency Department Task Force to address the issue at hospitals throughout the country.

There has been a significant increase in the number of patients on trolleys at UL Hospital in recent weeks.

Senator Mulcahy expressed his dissatisfaction with increased Emergency Department over-crowding during the latter part of this year, which he said has "reversed much of the progress achieved since the change of Government."

"I am confident the Emergency Department Task Force will provide a renewed and sustained focus on this problem. For overcrowding to be reduced, there needs to be full engagement from management and the frontline to get things done. The Task Force can be a catalyst for that.

"The Emergency Department Task Force will meet on a monthly basis to debate and decide issues across the health system which impact on access to acute hospital services, with primary, acute, community and ambulance services working together to develop effective measures to address these," he stated.

Meanwhile, Senator Mulcahy noted that other initiatives such as the implementation of the 'Delayed Discharge' initiative is "freeing up beds" by providing more nursing home 'Fair Deal' placements, more step-down community beds and extra home care packages.