conditions at the regional (university hospital)

flutered

an aquaintence aged 86 was found unconcencice on the floor last saturday night,the local shannon doc was contacted, a doctor could not make a home visit, the patient had to be loaded into a car then driven to the center, the patient was then driven to the regional, where he was admitted, he was placed on a trolly with no pillow advailable, so one of the people who was with him had to go out to the car, bring in a coat, fold it up and place it under his head. this is what our health service has come to.

seachto7

This thread won't last long.

Stuxnet

We need money to pay Biffo, Bertie & Harney, who needs pillows

phog

seachto7 wrote: »

This thread won't last long.

Regardless how long it lasts the OP is horrific for what is supposed to be a developed country.

Scandalous that an OAP should have to suffer like that in a hospital.

Shame on everyone involved in the HSE to allow the likes of this happen in this day and age.

LB6

why couldn't the shannon doc make a home visit? Disgraceful. What's the point of them at all. Tried using them before. Receptionist answered - took details, said she'd tell nurse and get nurse to call me. Nurse rang back. gave her all the info again. Ah you'll have to go to the hospital. Asked is the dr coming over first? no, just go to the hospital. honestly so feckin cross then - another night on the wonky seats, and overcrowded corridors, and then waited 4 hours for blood tests to come back.

gctest50

flutered wrote: »

an aquaintence aged 86 was found unconcencice on the floor last saturday night,the local shannon doc was contacted, a doctor could not make a home visit, the patient had to be loaded into a car then driven to the center, the patient was then driven to the regional, where he was admitted, he was placed on a trolly with no pillow advailable, so one of the people who was with him had to go out to the car, bring in a coat, fold it up and place it under his head. this is what our health service has come to.

Did anyone ask a member of staff was it okay to move his head and place a pillow under it ?

Kess73

Mod Post: Should not need saying, but keep this sensible. I don't want to see speculation, accusations, or any abuse in this thread.


A genuine conversation about the hospital on the basis of the service it does or does not provide for Limerick and the surrounding areas is fine.


People talking about their own personal experiences is also fine as long as it does not stray towards what I mentioned in the first paragraph.


For now I am letting this thread stay open as long as it has a Limerick link. But if it goes the wrong way then the thread will be closed.

flutered

gctest50 wrote: »

Did anyone ask a member of staff was it okay to move his head and place a pillow under it ?

yes, but there was none advailaBLE.

flutered

we lost barringtons, st johns is nearly gone, the regional was downgraded so as uhc cork could be upgraded, it was downgraded the second time so as uhg could be upgraded, not a whimper from our elected reps, it was then suggested that the cancer treatment center at the regional would be transfered to uhg, but the guy who is funding it said he would pull the plug on its funding, an mri machine was donated to the regional, it laid idle for a long time because the tax man required vat to be paid on it, ffs only for one individuals generosity it would be closed, he is funding the cancer treatment center, the dialisis machines, plus providing two mri machines, a mediccal card patient can get a subsided mri but must travel to cork, with three machines in limerick this is unadvailable here to them.

Xennon

Having had to frequent the regional on many occasions over the past two years, all I can say is that it scares me. My wife developed a weird form of asthma. On many occasions my rage built while we stood there at 1 in the morning, she straining for every breath, to be told to have a seat and someone will be with us in a while, knowing we were being dismissed. When I protested that shes having difficulty breathing, the reply I got was 'there are a lot of sick people here'.

The average waiting time was 4 hours...which believe me is an eternity when your partner is straining for breath. On one occasion we presented, we were put through to triage immediately. I mentioned this to my doctor and he confirmed that asthma sufferers should been seen immediately.

I'm at a loss as to how a receptionist can determine who gets seen immediately and who has to wait, surely that's the job of triage?

On another occasion we were seen after 4 hours to be put in a waiting room inside the ER area for another 2 hours. We didn't mind as we could see the chaos that was going on. At one stage I could see that we (those of us in that waiting room) were completely boxed in with trolleys, I remember thinking..what happens if there's a fire? There was just a sea of trolleys there that there is no way they could clear them in an emergency.

Don't get me wrong, we are very grateful to the staff in there who are nothing short of amazing considering what they have to work with. Brilliant nurses and young doctors, even the floor staff were fantastic, but you could see the strain. How they do this night after night, while politicians pontificate about policies is beyond me.

It is said that a civilization can be judged on how they treat their sick and their old, if so, we fail. We have a population of circa 5 million yet we drown ourselves in red tape.

angeleyes

Excellent post Xennon - well said. I hope your DW will get better.

PalLimerick

IMHO, the nurses in A&E in that hospital are the rudest and most unprofessional people i have ever encountered.

Mc Love

PalLimerick wrote: »

IMHO, the nurses in A&E in that hospital are the rudest and most unprofessional people i have ever encountered.

Operating to within an inch of their beings - give them a break, I wonder how well you would do under so much stress

Xennon

Certainly not my experience and I've spent alot of time there. There has been times where they've been rushed, but when you look around you can understand that.

Pumpkinseeds

I was just reading an article about this on 95fm and I think a lot of it is down to people using A & E as an out of hours GP service. There seems to be a high number of repeat patients showing up 5, 10 and even 13 times a year. Now either these repeat offenders, attenders must have no shortage of money if they can pay 100 euro a time for showing up with no GP referral or they're abusing their medical cards.

A simple solution there is to send these people away to get a referral from their GP's if they present with non emergency problems.

Kess73

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I was just reading an article about this on 95fm and I think a lot of it is down to people using A & E as an out of hours GP service. There seems to be a high number of repeat patients showing up 5, 10 and even 13 times a year. Now either these repeat offenders, attenders must have no shortage of money if they can pay 100 euro a time for showing up with no GP referral or they're abusing their medical cards.

A simple solution there is to send these people away to get a referral from their GP's if they present with non emergency problems.

Would imagine that cannot be done. Would potentially be one hell of a lawsuit if one seemingly nonurgent case was turned away and that person died before being able to get a GP referral.

Pumpkinseeds

Kess73 wrote: »

Would imagine that cannot be done. Would potentially be one hell of a lawsuit if one seemingly nonurgent case was turned away and that person died before being able to get a GP referral.

Something needs to be done about the people abusing A&E though. Surely there must be some way of stopping them turning up time and time again? Maybe just let them sit there until everyone else has been treated, non urgent cases I mean. I do think that the 100 euro fee should apply to those who attend without a referral though, if the people who are showing up multiple times for non urgent reasons had to pay it they wouldn't use the service unless it was an emergency.

his_dudeness

Xennon wrote: »

..... At one stage I could see that we (those of us in that waiting room) were completely boxed in with trolleys, I remember thinking..what happens if there's a fire? There was just a sea of trolleys there that there is no way they could clear them in an emergency....

Funny you should say that....

Fire chief investigates complaint of overcrowding at Limerick Regional Hospital

If the public were to make more complaints to the authorities-that-be, changes might actually happen.

Contact

Fire Prevention and Building Control
Phone: 061 407100/316107
Fax: 061 209073
email: -

Opening hours:
09:00 to 13:00 & 14:10 to 17:00 Monday to Friday

Address:
Fire Prevention and Building Control
Fire Station,
Mulgrave Street,
Limerick.

MissMarple56

Had cause to be in the Regional lately. Total chaos. I live in fear of having a repeat experience. Our governments have allowed this situation to develop and continue...I do not support any party...all I can say is that it's disgraceful in my opinion.

Notes

Amongst the acutely unwell, the accidents caused unrelated to drink and drugs and emergencies, there are a gluttony of medical card holders with understood entitlement to attend a&e as often as they please for free, there are those who have car traffic accidents and are looking for compensation, those that have drug addiction and attend for a chance of prescriptions of morphine and the like. Many don't understand the strain they are putting on the service. Some people try and pick the quietest time to attend in a hope to avoid the busy periods, hilarious considering it is supposed to be and emergency department! Perhaps if we educated the general public on how to appropriately use the service that is available to us things might improve? People that work in the A&E department are doing their best with what is available to them. I would hate to have to attend the A&E department in Limerick, i wonder if it is the same nationwide?

Crea

My Dad was brought into A&E last week by ambulance. He was brought in on an ambulance trolley but there was no hospital trolley available. He was on the ambulance trolley for 4 hours so wasn't officially a hospital patient because he wasn't on a hospital trolley so he couldn't be seen by a hospital doctor or treated by any nurses. Also the ambulance staff couldn't leave him until he was transferred over so they had to wait around for 4 hours with him which took an ambulance out of commission. Someone in management needs their arses kicked up and down that hospital. It is so badly run it is just chaotic.

dharma200

For the people commenting stating that those with medical cards, those on morphene and those who just enjoy hanging around a and e departments are the root cause... And actually think that is the reason why these services are so overwhelmed... Cloud cuckoo land altogether. The reason is lack of funding, lack of staff, lack of management, lack of adequate gp services. Lack of beds.... Lack of everything due to incessant cuts and bad management. To blame the people who have cause to use the service is just wrong.... I'd like to see ye stand there and decide who is adequately ill enough to be turned away if it were so simple, or who you think might be deemed worthy of medical attention or not due to their medical card, gp referral, wether or not the right part of society, perhaps brought it in themselves, maybe they as I said, just like hanging around the a and e, seeing as it is such a nice place to be... The whole system needs overhauled from management down.... You cannot mange who will use the service by making sweeping judgements of worthiness........

Poxyshamrock

I've experienced good and bad things at the hospital.
However, I was in UHL for minor surgery recently and I must say the staff from admissions to discharge and everyone in between couldn't have been nicer. The ward was spotless and surprisingly modern too
My only gripe was that I had to walk through the hospital in one of those embarrassing medical gowns. :P

whiteandlight

Xennon wrote: »

Having had to frequent the regional on many occasions over the past two years, all I can say is that it scares me. My wife developed a weird form of asthma. On many occasions my rage built while we stood there at 1 in the morning, she straining for every breath, to be told to have a seat and someone will be with us in a while, knowing we were being dismissed. When I protested that shes having difficulty breathing, the reply I got was 'there are a lot of sick people here'.

The average waiting time was 4 hours...which believe me is an eternity when your partner is straining for breath. On one occasion we presented, we were put through to triage immediately. I mentioned this to my doctor and he confirmed that asthma sufferers should been seen immediately.

I'm at a loss as to how a receptionist can determine who gets seen immediately and who has to wait, surely that's the job of triage?

On another occasion we were seen after 4 hours to be put in a waiting room inside the ER area for another 2 hours. We didn't mind as we could see the chaos that was going on. At one stage I could see that we (those of us in that waiting room) were completely boxed in with trolleys, I remember thinking..what happens if there's a fire? There was just a sea of trolleys there that there is no way they could clear them in an emergency.

Don't get me wrong, we are very grateful to the staff in there who are nothing short of amazing considering what they have to work with. Brilliant nurses and young doctors, even the floor staff were fantastic, but you could see the strain. How they do this night after night, while politicians pontificate about policies is beyond me.

It is said that a civilization can be judged on how they treat their sick and their old, if so, we fail. We have a population of circa 5 million yet we drown ourselves in red tape.

Asthma patients in difficulty should go straight into triage-I'm one. Also developed as an adult and have had two emergency visits in the last two years, both to blanchardstown and went straight through.

May I advise that your wife gets visibly upset? I know that sounds ridiculous but you can be very calmly and quietly struggling to breathe which isn't very obvious to receptionists. I was crying in relief at making it to the hospital for the most recent visit and the nurse was out to me immediately to bring me through. My husband had to do all the info coz I couldn't talk. The other time was less obvious but still went through within five minutes

Xennon

@dharma

I agree completely the system needs to be overhauled, I think this is what Riley is trying to do (dont bash me! I gave up on politicians years ago when I found out they have to tow the party line), but what happens while this is being done is where the problem seems to be. The issue I personally think is that you have receptionists acting as triage. And don't get me started on the amount of paperwork that moves around that hospital from day to day, its actually a sight to behold if yer stuck in there some day to just look out for it.

@Poxyshamrock
HAH!... I know the feeling....and how those pants fit everyone I'll never know.

@Musicmental85
Thankfully we seem to have come out the other end, so far so good anyway. Her condition started as severe asthma which turned into vocal chord dysfunction (VCD) which presents similar to asthma (as in choking, voice loss, short of breath) but doesn't require drugs to treat. Its rare, but often misdiagnosed resulting in taking tons of un-necessary asthma treatments. Feel free to PM me if you need any further info, as we did alot of research over the past 2 years dealing with this.

@Crea
Thats what I saw there many nights, ambulance staff waiting to have their patients taken in.

I'm quiet amazed that the staff there went on strike to highlight the issues and still nothing has been done. I don't think they took that decision lightly, all they want to do is for working hours to be brought to a safe level. I dread the idea of going to A&E.

893bet

If you are waiting 4 hours then your issue is not an emergency.

I spent 5 hours before with a fractured arm waiting to be seen.

I spent 5 minutes with a fractured skull waiting to be seen.

Xennon

Who makes the decision on whether or not you are seen immediately?

And asthma is very much an emergency case!

Split

I think its unjust to blame medical card holders and those seeking morphone for the majority of problems experienced in UHL - their is always a shortage of medical staff indeed many are out on sick leave due to the working enviroment . Their is also the situation that many are kept in wards as their is no place for them to go or they await rehabilliatation beds whether that be in a nursing home setting , ABI unit or spinal injury rehab .

Their is also a massive problem of backlog on out patient appointments - some find that they are unable to bear the symtoms that they await an out patient appointment for so they present desperate at A+E . A road traffic accident involving a few injured can cause a 4+hour back log between resus beds , x ray , scanning and surgery . Their is also the situation that many present with wounds, a pain in a baby toe that has been on going for 6 months - all that could be adequately dealt with at home or via GP or on call services .

To answer someone above - Triage usually categorises patients.

Im not staff in the regional but I spend a hell of a lot of time there and understand the frustration of staff when their is no beds , when they get 30 minors hogging the department and people in urgent need of care dont have a bed . I have had the couple of negative experiences namely because when you have a complex case that only 2 doctors understand you get past from pillar to post until someone or yourself can act as an advocate. Hate to see the regional slated as they really do carry out some exceptional work

ninty9er

I've only had to use A&E once, with a referral from my GP which got me seen and assessed within 20 minutes (felt like 3 hours), given pain relief and queued for admission.

Yes I was on a trolley for a while, but I got my bed after about 6 hours and slept through most of the A&E experience.

The biggest waste I found was the same staffing level on wards at 4am as at 6pm, pointless, the majority of people are sleeping.

Pandiani

ninty9er wrote: »

The biggest waste I found was the same staffing level on wards at 4am as at 6pm, pointless, the majority of people are sleeping.

I have been an in-patient a few times unfortunately and haven't found this to be the case, my recollection of the times I was there was that there would be 3 nurses on at 4am and possibly a care assistant which isn't a huge amount given the size of the wards and could be about 6 nurses and 2 care assistants at 6pm.

celticcrash

I brought my Father in a few months back, the poor man was complaining of chest pains. This was of a Friday morning, by Friday evening we were told that the results of the ecg would be posted to the heart doctor. (down the corridor)
I asked how long does the internal post take. I was than told that An post might have it back in the hospital by Monday.
So the results are collected from the regional, brought to cork to be sorted to be sent back to Limerick to be sorted to be sent to the regional to be sorted before landing in the heart specialists office.
Monday is a long time to be waiting for a Doctor to look at the results, I said.
I was than told that the this doctor only looks at results from the post on Thursdays.
Welcome to the backwards Ireland.