This article is from page 13 of the 2014-01-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A NEW Accident and Emergency Department for the region is at least two years away, despite construction being descried as “well underway on a new hospital shell block”.
Since the closure of the 24-hour service at Ennis and Nenagh hospitals, the only Emergency Department in the region is in Dooradoyle Limerick.
Just last week nurses again highlighted overcrowding issues in the A&E and the Medical Assessment Unit was closed for four days at the hospital at the beginning of the month to accommodate serious over crowding.
Work on the exterior building of the new wing of the University Hospital Limerick, which is to accommodate the new ED, is due to be completed by April 2014.
The unit will also include a new dialysis unit and a basement car park. “It is then proposed to progress the fit out of the basement to provide approximately 200 car parking spaces over the following six months. Separately, a tender process is being progressed for the fit out of the ground and first floors to provide the new ED and Dialysis Department,” a spokesperson for the hospital said.
“It is envisaged that the ED fit out works would commence in October 2014 with the new ED ready for opening in early 2016.”
“As an interim measure an extension has recently been completed to the existing ED in Dooradoyle,” he added.
The major development work currently underway follows the recent construction of the Critical Care block.