HIQA Advice to Minister on Urgent and Emergency Healthcare Services in HSE Mid West Region (hiqa.ie)

• Overcrowding at UHL is primarily due to a mismatch between inpatient bed capacity and demand, worsened by unfulfilled bed commitments from the 2009 reconfiguration.
• HIQA offers three options to expand capacity by 2032–2040, from enhancing existing sites to creating a second ED in the region.
• The review integrates international evidence, ESRI demand projections, regulatory inspections, and public consultation.

"HIQA has published advice to the Minister for Health on redesigning urgent and emergency healthcare services in the HSE Mid West region, focusing on University Hospital Limerick (UHL). The report finds that overcrowding at UHL is primarily due to insufficient inpatient beds relative to demand, exacerbated by the 2009 reconfiguration that centralised emergency care at UHL without the promised 267 extra beds. HIQA presents three options to increase bed capacity by 2032-2040, ranging from adding capacity at existing sites to building a second emergency department. The advice is based on international evidence, data analysis, regulatory inspections, and public consultation."