Updated 9 hours ago
Due to the absence of staff associated with Covid-19 of the UL Hospitals Group, most of the scheduled surgery and outpatient appointments at five hospitals in Limerick, Claire and Tiperary have been postponed next week.
The group’s chief executive, Colette Cowen, said the postponement will take place next Tuesday-Friday at the University of Limerick Hospital. Ennis Hospital; Nina Hospital; St. John’s Hospital; Kroom Orthopedic Hospital.
The outbreak of Covid-19 will not affect the services of University Maternity Hospital Limerick, whose visit restrictions were announced on Thursday.
“High levels of Covid-19 infection throughout our community have a significant impact on staffing levels, so we need to take the necessary precautions to ensure time-critical and urgent care. It’s essential, “says Cowen.
The group said, “We expect an increase in staff absenteeism to have a significant impact on service in the coming weeks,” due to “a significant surge in Covid-19 activity across society.”
392 staff members are absent from work and are self-quarantined as “positive for Covid-19 testing, designated as close contacts, or considered high risk”.
Patients affected by the device postponement must be contacted directly by the hospital in advance, “service reductions are continuously being considered by the UL Hospital Group’s crisis management team.”
Many patient services, including dialysis and acute fracture clinics (UHL), are unaffected. Cancer Services (Oncology and Hematology Day Ward; Hematology and Oncology OPD Clinics; Oncology Clinics; Rapid Access Clinics); Other Time-Critical Outpatient Clinics Only After Clinical Decisions Patients We will contact you in advance.
Pediatric Clinic; Prenatal Clinic; Colposcopy Clinic; Diabetes at Pregnancy Clinic; Selective Caesarean Section and Labor Induction (UMHL) are also functioning normally.
Cowan urged people to use local injury clinics, family doctors, overtime practitioners, and pharmacies instead of UHL’s emergency department unless they were prepared for a life-threatening emergency.
New Year’s Eve
The Chief Medical Officer warned that it is “just unsafe” for people to meet a lot tonight to celebrate the New Year.
Dr. Tony Holohan spoke with RTÉ’s Morning Ireland and said it is important for people to take steps to protect themselves from infection, given the record level of Covid in the community.
Current government guidelines state that up to four households can meet indoors, but Holohan has a difference between his view and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly’s view after a recent important debate. Said not.
“I think the very legitimate thing people can say is now,’What is the most effective thing an individual can do to protect himself?'” Holohan told the program. rice field.
Given the level of infection we have, meeting a large number of four households at this point is simply not safe. I think it is important to listen to that message and take measures on our own.
He emphasized that the deployment of the vaccine has significantly reduced the number of people affected by the virus compared to last year. This means that the record number of cases means that hospitalizations are much less than they would otherwise be.
However, the Omicron variant, which is currently predominant in Ireland, appears to have a lower risk of serious illness, which is somewhat denied by how widespread it is, he added.
“We are in this nearly paradoxical situation, and any indication of low personal risk can still be a bigger problem for the population,” he said, warning of further burdens on medical services. Did.
Holohan spoke yesterday following a major change in Ireland’s testing regime and quarantine guidelines.The aim is to free up testing capabilities and mitigate business and critical service disruptions caused by a large number of people being infected with the virus.
This includes an increase in the use of antigen testing by people under the age of 40, which is an important U-turn in policy by public health experts who advised against the use of tests previously performed at home. Represents.
Antigen testing provides results in less time than PCR, but it is less likely to detect the virus in certain situations, such as in the early stages of infection.
An empty antigen test stand in a Dublin store.
Source: Alamy
Dr. Holohan defends this move, and using antigen testing in local outbreaks is always NPHET’s advice, and health experts say, “This is because the country currently has a very high incidence of the disease. I can be confident of its value. ” test”.
This move was criticized by the Irish Infectious Diseases Society, which stated that there was little to be gained from confirming positive antigen results by follow-up PCR.
Holohan emphasized that positive PCR results are now required to trigger public health reactions such as contact tracing, which may also be required for sick leave and travel paths.
Holohan added that he has not seen the true scale of the virus due to the limited testing capacity of Ireland, which is currently processing a record number of tests.
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He said the daily number of cases could actually be as high as 30,000. Modeling suggests that the actual number of cases is likely to be 40% higher..
Retailer representatives are calling on governments to adjust rules for close contact that must limit their movements.
Vice Chairman of Retail Excellence, Jean McCabe, said the government “scaled the crisis by reducing the quarantine period for those who received positive results and were boosted or infected by 10 to 7 days. We went in the direction of admitting. ” In the last 3 months. “
“But our close contact rules are a very serious issue and need to be reduced. At this point, they are having a bigger impact on retail staffing than positive cases. So many people. Many companies are unable to register enough staff to open a store because they are in close contact with each other, “says McCabe.
“I understand that the number of cases is skyrocketing, but the response to close contact does not seem to be proportional to the threat posed by this variant.”
A queue of PCR tests at the HSE test site in Croke Park’s handball alley.
Source: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, He said it could take another week before the high number of cases could affect ICU numbers...
Under the new testing regime, symptomatic individuals aged 4 to 39 years are advised to immediately isolate and undergo regular antigen testing and to seek PCR only if a positive antigen result is obtained.
Isolation should continue for up to 48 hours after symptoms have subsided. People who are in an underlying condition at high risk of serious illness or who have clinical concerns should contact their GP.
Healthcare professionals and people over the age of 40 should continue to seek separate PCRs when symptoms appear.
On the other hand, confirmed cases that have been fully vaccinated, boosted, or recently infected with the virus should be isolated for only 7 days after the onset of symptoms and restricted movement as much as possible for an additional 3 days. ..
Contains a report by David Lowery
