[ad_1]
More than 1,000 Health Service Executive (HSE) employees are currently out of work for reasons related to Covid-19, it has been discovered.
This compares with the 400 employees who were absent due to testing positive or as close contacts of a case in August, according to HSE CEO Paul Reid.
A “significant proportion” of the rest of the staff is trapped, he added.
Mr. Reid said he had “great concern” about virus trends, noting that every hospitalization of a patient has a significant impact.
“I am definitely more concerned than I was last week about the trends I see. We are not at the stage where we are overwhelmed, but we are on guard. “
A total of 157 Covid-19 patients were in hospital Wednesday night, with 27 in intensive care units (ICUs), it said.
Given the increase in cases, it was “extremely tight” relative to the capacity of the hospitals, and the system was “challenged, but not overwhelmed.” Some hospitals already had to cancel or postpone procedures to adapt to Covid-19 work.
The incidence of the virus is growing in all age groups, said HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry, with a 15-fold increase in incidence in those 65 and older since early August.
287 schools have been tested, he added, and 122 cases have been identified.
Dr Henry said 300 intensive care beds were expected to be reached by the end of the year, and the capacity to increase could increase that number to 350, although this would involve redeployment of staff.
Reid defended the service against claims that it was ill-prepared for the current surge in Covid-19 cases.
Claims that HSE did not use the summer to prepare for a new raise were “misinformed, inaccurate and do not do justice to the relentless work” of staff, he said in the weekly HSE briefing.
Since May, the service had planned to restore non-Covid services and strengthen services, he said. Dual service pathways were created, for Covid and non-Covid patients.
An additional 31 ICU beds were created and the hiring of additional staff began. Reid said an additional 4,800 employees have been hired, including 142 consultants, 840 doctors and 1,607 nurses.
The public health staffing level has nearly doubled, mainly through the temporary reassignment of other staff, and funding has been obtained for an additional 255 permanent staff.
Additionally, the test system was developed over the summer at a capacity of 100,000 per week, and a “best-in-class” contract tracking application was developed.
Tests
Last week, 90,000 tests were carried out, Reid said, with an average response time of 1.9 days. The mean time from referral by a GP to sample collection was 27 hours.
An additional 100 swabs employees and 65 contact trackers started working this week, and 75 contact trackers next week, he said.
According to HSE Director of Operations Anne O’Connor, four major outbreaks are being treated in nursing homes, and 26 homes are receiving HSE support.
O’Connor said most households had adopted new infection control guidelines and outbreaks were being identified and addressed more quickly than in the spring.
Dr Des Fitzgerald, an emergency medicine consultant at Waterford University Hospital, said that most hospitals had created separate emergency departments (EDs) for the treatment of Covid and not Covid.
However, “all of our hard work will be for naught if our emergency services are overwhelmed this winter.” If it was about doctors having to choose whether to treat a cancer patient or one with Covid, “then we have lost.”
Hotspot
Lifford / Stranorlar in Co Donegal remains the national “hotspot” for Covid-19, with a 14-day incidence of 602.6 cases per 100,000 people, according to new figures.
This is more than five times the national average of 116.4, figures published in the government data center show.
Granard in Co Longford has the second highest incidence nationally, at 384.1, while Monaghan’s local constituency ranks third, at 317.3. Kimmage / Rathmines has the highest incidence in Dublin, at 306.1, and the third highest figure nationally.
Other areas outside of Dublin with high levels of the virus (an incidence greater than 200) include Buncrana in Co Donegal, Kilrush in Co Clare, Boyle in Co Roscommon, Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan, Galway City Central, Ennis, Cork City South-Central and Bray. East in Co Wicklow.
In the capital, Ballyfermot / Drimnagh, Ongar, Dublin North Inner City and Swords also have incidents greater than 200.
[ad_2]