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The HSE has insisted that the situation in four hospitals in Ireland, which have seen large numbers of staff out of circulation, is “controlled”.
Speaking at a briefing this afternoon, HSE CEO Paul Reid said the staffing shortage was putting hospitals under significant pressure.
Some 161 staff members are unavailable at Limerick University Hospital and Ennis Hospital, as they are both battling the Covid-19 outbreaks.
Both hospitals closed wards and canceled procedures yesterday and today as a result of staff shortages.
77 and 55 people in the Naas and Letterkenny hospitals are also currently unable to work due to having the virus or being a close contact.
HSE CEO Paul Reid described the impact on the affected facilities as “significant.” Speaking in the executive’s weekly update, Reid said: “We are losing a lot of staff on shifts and it is causing significant disruption.”
A medical source from the Naas Hospital, who asked on Tuesday that people stop coming to their Emergency Service, said: “We keep screaming. We’re drowning, nobody seems to care
“It has been widely reported that we are having an outbreak. No one is listening. “
However, Dr. Vida Hamilton, leader of the HSE group for acute hospitals, said that all four outbreaks are “being managed appropriately.”
Speaking at the National Public Health Emergency Team’s bi-weekly Covid-19 briefing, Dr. Hamilton admitted that the situations in the four hospitals “have not stabilized, but we are happy the situation is under control.”
“Each of these hospitals has its own outbreak team. They all have daily meetings, they have services and paperwork cut back, ”he said.
He added that massive testing of staff and patients continues at every hospital.
Meanwhile, UL Hospitals Group has confirmed all routine outpatient appointments along with most elective procedures at Limerick and Ennis hospitals as it struggles to control its virus outbreaks.
Also speaking at the briefing, Mr. Reid spoke of the positive impact that the Covid-19 level 5 restrictions were having on the virus profile here, also saying that Ireland was “only in the middle” and that the next few weeks.
He said: “As long as we have the virus and as long as we have the virus, it puts our health system at risk.”
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