The new Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick is set to open in May of next year.
The unit is being seen as a major step towards reducing overcrowding issues at the hospital which serves North Tipperary, Limerick and Clare.
University Hospital Limerick is consistently one of the worst hit by overcrowding in the Emergency Department with over 60,000 people attending each year.
Patients are regularly being cared for on trolleys and chairs around the ED or in overflow areas of wards.
Over 100 constructions workers are currently on site in Dooradoyle – the new multi-million Euro unit will be handed over by the contractors at the end of March following which a number of weeks will be spent equipping it.
Significant training of existing staff will be necessary to allow them familiarise themselves with the new work environment; new patient flow processes and state-of-the-art new equipment before transferring to the new ED.
Over 90 additional staff are being targeted in a recruitment drive which is already underway.
The UL Hospitals Group is now targeting May of 2017 for the opening the Emergency Department which is three times the size of the existing one.
UL Hospitals Group CEO Colette Cowan said opening the new Emergency Department as soon as possible is the number one priority but it is more important to get it right than to open too soon without the proper systems and safeguards in place.
