2024 the worst year on record for overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick with with 23,203 people on trolleys – Maurice Quinlivan TD

Sinn Fein TD for Limerick, Maurice Quinlivan, has said that 2024 was the worst year on record for overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, and is a damning indictment of the outgoing government’s abject failure in health.

Deputy Quinlivan made his comments following the release of INMO figures that showed a further 85 people were treated on trolleys today, bringing the 2024 total to an incredible 23,203.

He said that successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have utterly failed to deliver enough hospital capacity over the years, and added that their mismanagement of the health budget and decision to underfund the health service has left hospitals across the state, particularly in Limerick, without the beds they need.

Teachta Quinlivan said:

“After the last few years of appalling conditions with severe overcrowding at UHL, the people in Limerick had hoped that the government would get to grips with the issue, but the inaction continued.

“The incoming government must prioritise addressing the shambles that occurs daily in our Emergency Department at UHL. The new government must act decisively and consistently so that the people of Limerick and the Midwest can get the emergency department they deserve and the necessary treatment when they need it.

“The INMO figure of 23,203 patients who went without a bed at UHL in 2024 is a national disgrace and a record that shames the outgoing government.

“It represents an utter failure by the government and the Minister for Health. That is their legacy. For four consecutive years, the numbers treated in this manner have far exceeded the previous year.

“The government had no plan to address this crisis and this can’t continue. This has to be a priority for the incoming government.

“Workers and patients in Limerick face a severely overcrowded ED every day, overcrowding which often results in cancellations in planned appointments and surgeries to cope with demand. This will simply shift the problem from one part of the health service to another.

“This situation was avoidable. The Minister announced new beds four years ago, and many of them have yet to be delivered. The government knows that these beds are needed urgently. However, they decided to sacrifice health in previous budgets, abandoning so many people in Limerick and the Midwest.

“The HSE continues to be restricted by a recruitment embargo because of the government’s deliberate decision to underfund the health service.

“Fine Gael came into Government in 2011 with a promise to end ‘the scandal of patients on trolleys’ but the reality is their record on health in government for the last 14 years has been a bitter failure as trolley numbers ballooned, and that was felt most by the people of Limerick.

“The people of the Midwest deserve better than that. Our health professionals need better than that.

“Any new government needs to fund the health service properly to ensure patients in Limerick get the high-quality, timely health care they need when they need it.

“I will keep this issue on the Dáil agenda to ensure that we get a second ED in the region as promised by all the political parties in the recent General Election, and I will work hard to ensure that the issues at UHL are finally properly addressed.”