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St. Mary’s Hospital in Dublin’s Phoenix Park has had 11 Covid-19-related deaths in a two-week period, the HSE confirmed.
The HSE-run facility, which cares for the elderly, said Thursday night that 10 of the deceased had tested positive for coronavirus and another resident was suspected to have had it, but the test results were expected.
“Unfortunately we can confirm that since April 2, 2020 there have been 11 Covid-19 related resident deaths at St Mary’s Hospital, 10 of which are confirmed positive with Covid-19 and one that is a suspected case, in awaiting results. ” We offer our deepest condolences to their family and friends and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time, ”said the HSE in response to questions from The Irish Times.
“All efforts continue to be made to maintain the professional standard of nursing and medical care staffing at St Mary’s Hospital during this time,” he added.
He said there is a greater focus on infection control procedures at home and that additional measures have been implemented.
The hospital has 198 residential places in total.
“We continue to contact family members and relatives of all residents of St Mary’s Hospital regarding any suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases,” said the HSE.
On Thursday morning, the chief executive of Age Action Ireland said there is a “tragedy in progress” as a result of the coronavirus in large disability care institutions, where up to 2,900 people live, many of them elderly.
Paddy Connolly, former head of Inclusion Ireland, which advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, said it was “absolutely happening” that the virus was affecting these institutions, which should have been closed years ago.
A senior political source said that these institutions would create a great challenge for the Health Services Executive (HSE), due to the difficulties of saving people from infection who are often unable to understand or comply. with advice on social distancing and avoiding physical contact with others.
His comments came a day after HSE’s confirmation of the deaths of nine residents at the Maryborough Center for Old Age Psychiatry in Portlaoise, Co Laois, at Covid-19 last weekend. Residents were between 66 and 84 years old.
St. Fintan Hospital in Portlaoise: The HSE confirmed the deaths of nine residents at the Maryborough Center over the holiday weekend. Photography: Brian Lawless / PA
The 17 residents who remain living at the facility are being administered “as if Covid-19 were positive, regardless of test results or the presence of symptoms,” the HSE said.
The latest figures show that the number of Covid-19 outbreaks in residential care settings is 254, with the number of nursing home groups now 163, compared to 155 in a 24-hour period.
To date, there have been 253 nursing home deaths.
Promised support
The possible “spike” in Covid-19 cases that was discussed two weeks ago is now happening in the state’s nursing homes, said the head of Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI).
Tadhg Daly said that the support that the sector is receiving from the state is “irregular” and that he wants to see the promised level of support that is really being delivered.
“The support, to be fair, is happening. But it is not consistent across the country. Our frustration is that where it is happening, it is happening very well, but equally, there are other parts of the country where it is not happening at all. ”
Daly said she met with Health Minister Simon Harris on Wednesday to discuss the issue of unequal support across the state and would receive an update from him on Friday. “To be fair, that’s a good answer.”
He said the dreaded wave or wave, which was being discussed two weeks ago, had not affected the hospital system, where there are approximately 2,400 empty acute beds.
“The increase is really in nursing homes. We are the front line now right now. “
NHI represents the private and voluntary nursing home sector. There are approximately 30,000 people living in NHI and HSE-managed nursing homes, with Covid-19 cases in at least a third of facilities.
There is no “general policy”
When asked about the comments made recently by the medical director, Dr. Tony Holohan, where he referred to some nursing homes that, in the past, received poor reports from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), Mr. Daly said it was not accurate, suggesting that the crisis was due in part to some low-level nursing homes.
“If you look at the Hiqa reports, in 2019 the compliance assessment for all households in terms of infection control was 82 percent.”
He also said it was “useless” for some people to comment that the private sector nursing homes were “rescued.”
Although private and voluntary nursing homes mostly have single or double rooms, HSE-managed facilities had one exception to this standard that allowed them to manage homes with more beds per room.
He said he still thought it was the correct policy to try to keep as many infected people as possible in homes. A “general policy” of transferring everyone to the hospital or keeping everyone at home would be incorrect.
“Homes have a lot of end-of-life and palliative care experience. The notion of transferring someone to another environment when it is not appropriate would not make sense. “
Each infected resident is examined by a doctor and a clinical decision is made about what is best for the person.
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