“MULTIPLE outbreaks” of COVID-19 at University Hospital Limerick and at Ennis Hospital, in Clare, have resulted in cancellations of “all routine outpatient appointments and the majority of elective procedures” this Thursday and Friday.
The UL Hospitals Group chief executive Colette Cowan, who oversees both hospitals as well as several others, said the Group was trying to manage “a complex situation involving multiple outbreaks” of coronavirus.
Ms Cowan said it was “vital” that any patient requiring emergency care attend at UHL’s 24hour emergency department, which remained open.
She said she regretted the impact on patients, but that the announced measures were “necessary in the interests of patient and staff safety”.
A spokesman for the Group running both hospitals, said it would not be releasing information on the numbers of positive cases at both hospitals.
They said “significant numbers of staff are currently off work and self-isolating having either tested positive for Covid-19 or been designated as close contact”.
The Group’s clinical director, Professor Brian Lenehan, said “the volume of staff currently self-isolating having come into contact with Covid-19 is now such that we are curtailing scheduled care to concentrate resources on emergency presentations and on inpatients”.
He added “this will also serve to reduce footfall in our hospitals in the coming days”, and that, “such cancellations are provided for in our escalation plan”.
The Group spokesman said “separate Covid/query Covid and non-Covid pathways are in place to keep patients safe”.
“Outbreak control teams established in both locations are working closely with public health and occupational health colleagues and all the relevant HPSC guidance is being followed as we work to contain the virus and to protect patients and staff,” they said.
“Contact tracing and testing of staff and patients is continuing and we are putting into effect all the appropriate infection control measures to mitigate the risk.”
Both hospitals are experiencing “considerable staffing challenges” due to the ongoing crisis situation, the spokesman added.
Around 50 patients had their procedures cancelled today.
The Group’s Hospital Crisis Management Team took the “difficult decision to cancel most scheduled care at UHL and Ennis for the remainder of this week”, added the spokesman.
The situation is being kept “under continuous review”, they said.
The Group’s other hospitals, St John’s Hospital, Limerick; Nenagh Hospital, Tipperary; University Maternity Hospital Limerick; and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, Co Limerick; “continue to operate as normal”.
Other services within the Group which are running as normal are: emergency/trauma theatre; cancer and other time-critical surgery; chemotherapy and radiotherapy; rapid access cancer clinics; dermatology melanoma clinic; urgent outpatients appointments; dialysis; and palliative care.
Injury clinics also remain open.
The Group’s spokesman said patients who have “any symptoms of Covid-19” should “not attend the hospital or any healthcare facility” and “phone their GP for advice”.
There were 36 confirmed positive cases of the virus among inpatients at University Hospital Limerick as of 8pm last night — the most confirmed cases in any hospital in the country — according to latest statistics published by the HSE.
There were 26 confirmed cases of the virus when an outbreak was declared on a medical ward at the Limerick hospital on November 2 last.
When asked, the hospital would not disclose numbers of confirmed positive cases.
An informed source described cases locally as “way above the national fourteen-day incidence rate” alongside Donegal.
The 14-day incidence rate is currently 145 per 100,000 population, however in Donegal the rate is 300.9 and in Limerick it is 201.1.
Information on the symptoms of Covid-19, are available at www.hse.ie
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