A Limerick woman has warned that her mother’s last few hours on this earth were “absolutely horrendous” due to the “third world conditions” at the University Hospital Limerick Emergency Department.

Over the last few days, Lunchtime Live has been highlighting the conditions at the Limerick hospital, which is regularly the most overcrowded in the country.

A protest was held at the hospital this afternoon as the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and HSE Chief Bernard Gloster were visiting.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has described UHL’s Emergency Department as a ‘war zone’ – and Lunchtime Live has been flooded with emails from patients about the conditions all this week.

Limerick woman Teri told the show that her mother was admitted to the Emergency Department six months ago today after suffering a heart attack.

She said she will “never, ever forget” what happened next for as long as she lives.

“When we got to the hospital, there was no room for them to actually bring Mum through,” she said.

“So the ambulance driver - it was a bit like the scene from an officer and a gentleman - he picked Mum up and carried her in his arms to a trolley.

“The place was absolutely jammers. It's just something I will never forget.

“If I could have taken her out of there, I would but that’s the problem, you've no choice; when somebody is that sick, you just have to take a chance and stay there.

“What I saw and what I heard and the smells will stay with me forever, I think.

“I drive past there [now] and I bless myself and I just say, ‘Please God, nobody that I know will ever have to face that in there again.

“It was absolutely horrendous.”

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