{"id":51090,"date":"2025-09-29T18:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/51090\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T18:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:02:08","slug":"woman-70-waiting-in-overcrowded-university-hospital-limerick-says-its-like-a-war-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/51090\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman (70) waiting in overcrowded University Hospital Limerick says &#8216;it\u2019s like a war zone&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Margaret Griffin (70) was one of the 147 languishing on chairs and trolleys at the overcrowded corridors of the emergency department (ED) and wards at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like a war zone,\u201d said the Moyross native, as she and her daughter ventured out from inside the trolley trenches for a quick breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n<p>The near-record level of overcrowding at the hospital was creating chaos for patients and staff.<\/p>\n<p>Trolleys with patients hooked up to intravenous lines, sick bowls and urine bottles, lay cheek to jowl along the emergency department and its waiting zones.<\/p>\n<p>At times, staff had to squeeze past their colleagues who were trying to treat patients in the overcrowded corridors. A notice on the floor of the emergency department zones read: \u201cDo Not Obstruct Door Movement Area\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Staff, including consultants, doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, and porters weaved in and out of trolleys backed up in the corridors.<\/p>\n<p>Trolley after trolley was added to the seemingly never-ending trolley chaos. When one patient on a trolley as moved out, another two were added, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>There were 54 patients at the emergency department waiting for a bed, and a further 93 on trolleys on wards, according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Medical staff looked pressured in what is by normal circumstances a pressure zone, but, Ms Griffin said \u201cnobody should have to work in overcrowded spaces\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m here since ten o\u2019clock this morning,\u201d she said, six hours later, at 4pm.<\/p>\n<p>She may be one of the lucky ones however, some have waited days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw a doctor after an hour and got an X-ray, blood taken, and a heart trace, and I haven&#8217;t seen anyone since.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think its my heart. I\u2019m just waiting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The conditions are chaotic, she offered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a war-zone. The trolleys are double parked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe waiting area is full, the departments inside are full and then you go into the (ED) which is full, it\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"not-prose no-underline\" data-action=\"click\" data-category=\"Read more article clicked\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/hse-confirms-imminent-96-bed-block-at-university-hospital-limerick-to-help-curb-overcrowding-1812574.html\" data-value=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/hse-confirms-imminent-96-bed-block-at-university-hospital-limerick-to-help-curb-overcrowding-1812574.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2-77101266.jpg\" class=\"rounded-sm object-contain bg-transparent z-10 w-full h-full not-prose\" alt=\"Hse Confirms 'Imminent' 96-Bed Block At University Hospital Limerick To Help Curb Overcrowding\" width=\"278\" height=\"156\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        Ireland<\/p>\n<p>HSE confirms &#8216;imminent&#8217; 96-bed block at University Hospital Limerick to help curb overcrowding<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Her main issue is a lack of privacy, as trolleys with patients and loved ones are almost attached to one another in the cramped conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the doctor examined me, there was another patient there, there is no privacy there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The HSE Mid West said a 96-bed block, constructed on the site of the hospital, was \u201cimminent\u201d and apologised for delays for patients.<\/p>\n<p>It said a number of measures had been implemented to try to deal with ongoing patient overcrowding at UHL which is said were due to record levels of patient attendances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Margaret Griffin (70) was one of the 147 languishing on chairs and trolleys at the overcrowded corridors of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-51090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}