Claims 514 UL patients died due to delays and overcrowding is 'misleading'
UL Hospital Group chief executive Professor Colette Cowan has now written to local politicians to voice her concerns over the claims.
University Hospital Limerick has rejected claims that 514 of its patients died in just over a year due to delays and overcrowding, saying it is “misleading and unhelpful”.
The hospital was responding to a presentation by the Mid-West Hospital Campaign to the Oireachtas Committee on Public Petitions earlier this month, where campaigners mapped findings from an English study onto patient numbers for Limerick.
UL Hospital Group chief executive Professor Colette Cowan has now written to local politicians to voice her concerns over the claims.
“It is important to state that UL Hospitals Group rejects the assertion made by the Mid-West Hospital Campaign group at the committee hearing that 514 patients have died as a direct result of delays in the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL),” she said.
“The claim is not evidence-based, with the numbers calculated on the basis, primarily, of research undertaken at least four years ago in another jurisdiction.”
She said her questioning was “without prejudice to the bona fides of the respected authors of that research”.
The National Audit of Hospital Mortality 2021, published by the National Office of Clinical Audit in July, is the measurement for deaths in Irish hospitals, she said.
“In the clinical areas highlighted across the 44 hospitals audited, UHL is within the expected range for in-hospital mortality,” she said.
She acknowledged “the vital and important work that the Mid-West Hospital Campaign Group does in advocating for patients and for improved health services”.
Prof Cowan also said in just one day this month the ED saw 276 new patients.
“A recent analysis has shown that UHL has had 13% more attendances than other model 4 hospitals [average figures] so far this year,” she said referring to hospitals offering similar levels of treatment.
“Attendances by patients aged 75 and over are 7% above average for model 4 hospitals. UHL's inpatient bed capacity is 14% below average for model 4 hospitals.”
She described “consistently high levels of activity” during winter and highlighted non-hospital programmes offering emergency treatment.
These include three medical assessment units, geriatric emergency medicine unit at UHL and Pathfinder services offering treatment at home to older people.
In their presentation, the Mid-West Hospital Campaign called for EDs at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s hospitals to re-open.
Marie McMahon described 514 patient deaths as “a conservative estimate” of deaths between June 2022 and this month based on a 2019 study.
“This campaign has worked out just how deprived and starved our area is in comparison to others when it comes to emergency department provision,” she said.
