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Letterkenny University Hospital apologized to patients who had to wait in ambulances outside before being admitted to the hospital yesterday.
The hospital said a sustained level of suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patients presenting for treatment resulted in fewer beds being available.
He said an extremely busy weekend involving large numbers of confirmed or suspected Covid-19 patients presenting for treatment resulted in delays in the admission of some patients through the dedicated Covid-19 zone in the hospital.
Ambulances lined up outside with patients inside waiting to be seen.
The hospital said that in response to this dire situation, clinical teams assessed patients in ambulances outside to make sure they were treated on clinical priority.
He said that while ambulances were delayed during the afternoon, they continued to be released throughout the night.
An INMO representative said he was “exceptionally concerned” about the situation and that before 9:00 pm last night there were up to seven ambulances waiting.
Letterkenny University Hospital has now secured additional staff to allow it to open another 11 beds.
He apologized to patients affected by the anguish the delays may have caused and acknowledged what he called the enormous efforts of his staff.
Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, an appeal was issued last night for the staff of the South West Acute hospital in Enniskillen to go directly to the hospital due to increasing pressures from Covid-19.
Northern Ireland’s health chiefs have warned that the number of people with Covid-19 in hospital will double by the third week of January compared to current figures.
The prediction was made in a joint statement by the executive directors of the six health and social care trusts in the region.
Health chiefs said the expected increase in hospital admissions cannot be solved by creating more beds because staff are not there to care for more patients.
“The situation is very dire with model projections indicating that in the third week of January we will try to deal with twice as many Covid-positive patients compared to the current position today, when several hospitals already have a record number of patients,” he said the statement read.
“It’s not just about installing more beds. We need staff to see as many patients as possible.
“The pre-existing staff pressures and the absence of staff due to Covid, and other reasons, mean that those staff are simply not there.”
Additional reporting PA
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