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Hospitals across the state have been ordered to treat the current rise in Covid-19 as an “emergency situation” by suspending all non-urgent work and increasing patient discharge “with immediate effect.”
As ICU capacity is expected to be exhausted by the weekend, the HSE has told hospitals to minimize the length of stay for patients and facilitate their discharge “as much as possible”, as well as to use the sector private to maximize capacity.
In a letter to senior managers, HSE clinical director Dr. Colm Henry says hospitals are “under pressure” due to the high number of Covid-19 patients and high absenteeism from associated staff.
Urging staff to not only focus on the peak of this increase, he says it is important to understand that “due to the volume of cases and the time patients spend in the hospital more than average, there will be a slow decline in hospital figures ”later.
On Wednesday night, 63 more deaths from Covid-19 patients were reported, the highest daily total since April. The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) also reported 3,569 confirmed cases.
By next Monday, more than 2,000 Covid-19 patients will require hospitalization, Dr. Henry predicts, compared with Wednesday’s figure of 1,770. More than 220 of these patients will require intensive care, easily depleting the remaining capacity in the system.
While launching a vaccine, Dr. Henry says that “this is not a short-term solution that addresses this increase.”
Positivity rates
Despite a record 172 ICU patients on Wednesday, Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan said “some early signs of progress” were being seen, with a daily number of cases and declining rates of positivity. However, he added that there was “a long, very long way to go.”
The Irish Organization of Nurses and Midwives called on the Government to fully nationalize the capacity of private hospitals.
A new deal to allow the HSE to take over up to 30 percent of capacity in private hospitals is expected to cost € 37.5 million a month according to initial estimates, the Department of Health has informed ministers. Health.
Meanwhile, all GPs and their staff will be vaccinated against Covid-19 at the end of February under an agreement between the medical organizations and the HSE.
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