Wexford hospital fire: ‘small number of patients’ repatriated over weekend

Wexford General Hospital has repatriated a “small number of patients” from Waterford over the weekend as the healthcare facility begins a phased reopening following the fire that occurred last week.

On Wednesday afternoon, Wexford County Fire Service received an emergency call regarding a blaze at the 280-bed healthcare facility. There were no casualties or injuries and the fire was brought under control by emergency services that night.

All but 29 of the more than 200 patients who were in the hospital at the time were evacuated and relocated to other healthcare facilities.

In an update on Sunday afternoon, a statement from hospital management said 37 patients are being treated in the hospital currently, with 84 beds “potentially available”.

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“Wexford General Hospital has resumed maternity and some outpatient gynaecological services, including special care baby unit, as of Friday, 3rd March. Ely Hospital continues to be unaffected and if patients have scheduled appointment we ask that they please do attend as normal,” the statement said.

The update said the repatriation of a small number of patients who require ongoing care from Waterford occurred over the weekend.

“We hope to be able to repatriate more patients over the coming week as electrics, medical gases, oxygen and other vital technical services are fully restored, tested and deemed safe for use,” the statement added.

A survey of critical infrastructure and services is ongoing, according to management, while decontamination and cleaning has been carried out in some areas affected by the fire in order to allow construction and repairs to take place. Builders will be on site from Monday to begin repairs.

“Hospital management, Ireland East Hospital Group and HSE have been working over the weekend to further increase bed capacity and it is hoped that further beds may open in the coming week. Solutions such as modular builds and other options to increasing capacity are being considered,” the statement said.

The emergency department at the hospital remains closed, and members of the public are advised to consider alternative options should they find themselves in need of emergency care.

“The emergency department in University Hospital Waterford continues to be extremely busy and we are asking all patients to please consider their care options including GP and out-of-hour services. CareDoc continues to have additional GPs available during out of hours in the Wexford and Waterford areas,” the statement said.

“Outpatient and radiology services will resume on Monday, 6th March. Patients should attend their scheduled outpatient appointment as usual. Patients who were unable to attend their outpatient appointment last week due to the fire will be contacted as soon as possible and prioritised for a new appointment.”

Patients who may have questions or concerns about scheduled outpatient appointments can contact the telephone number on their appointment letter received from the hospital, the spokeswoman added.

Speaking on Friday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it would be “weeks to months” before the hospital would resume full service following the fire. He promised the Government would do whatever it could to assist the hospital.