This article is from page 10 of the 2009-04-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
that an extra ward had to be opened at the weekend to cater for the extra patients now descending on the Mid Western Regional Hospital Bits An increase of patients attending
the Dooradoyle Hospital’s A&E, even during the 12 hours Ennis A&E is open, have also been reported.
This number has increased sig- nificantly since the publication of the HIQA report last week, which deemed some services at the Ennis Hospital “unsafe”.
Since Thursday April 9, the day the
report was published the HSE report- ed an increase in the number of self referred “walk ins” to the emergency department in Limerick from the Clare area during the day between 8am and 8pm.
“It is important to emphasise that the local emergency centre in Ennis is Open seven days per week between
8am and 8pm and will deal with all minor injuries and acute emergen- cies. All trauma, paediatric and ob- stetric emergencies will go directly to the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick including the Regional Ma- ternity Unit,’ a spokesperson said. For the first seven days after Ennis A&E was reduced to 12-hours a day
five patients were admitted directly to Ennis General by their GPs and between two and six patients per night (total 27) were brought to the emergency department in the Mid- Western Regional Hospital Limerick by ambulance from the Clare area while the service was closed in En- Wah