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Five people died with flu over the Christmas period as virus levels surged to a high for this winter.
In total, six flu deaths have been recorded since October, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
Though hospitals have been under pressure this week following the Christmas holidays, overcrowding has not reached the levels seen last year. Flu and other respiratory viruses are expected to peak over the next week or so, but will continue to impact hospitals significantly for at least the next few months.
Thirteen flu patients were admitted to intensive care over Christmas, and 21 since the start of the winter.
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There were 15 flu outbreaks in the last two weeks of the year – four in nursing homes and hospitals, one in a community hospital, two in residential institutions and four in other settings. There were also nine RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) outbreaks and three outbreaks of other viruses, the HPSC reports.
Doctors have been advised to use antivirals for the treatment and prevention of flu in at-risk patients.
A total of 965 flu cases were notified in the second last week of last year and a further 879 in the final week of 2023. The latter reduced figure is likely due to the impact of closures of health services over the holiday period. Both figures are well up on the 631 cases recorded in mid-December.
[ Hospital overcrowding surges on first day of new year as flu and Covid-19 cases spread ]
Rates are highest among children aged under one, but increasing fastest among over-65s.
RSV activity has started to decline, although it remains at high levels, with the highest rates in those aged less than one-year-old.
Rates for flu and RSV are highest in the west and north-west.
Covid-19 cases rose to 918 in the second last week of 2023, the highest figure since August, before dipping to 611 a week later.
There were 504 patients waiting for admission to hospital on Friday morning, according to the daily count by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
University Hospital Limerick once again recorded the worst overcrowding, with 96 patients on trolleys.
[ Masks may be required by staff and visitors in hospitals under new HSE guidance ]
A separate count by the Health Service Executive found 379 patients on trolleys and a further 374 in surge beds. Some 86 of these patients had been waiting for a bed for more than 12 hours, including seven who were aged over 75.
In an interview on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme on Friday, Mr Donnelly said about seven public hospitals currently account for half of patients left waiting for admission on trolleys.
The Minister said while some hospitals are improving, some “are still struggling” with the problem, which can be met through both capacity improvement and general reform.
“We know that in too many of our hospitals there are too many patients waiting on trolleys, particularly those waiting in the emergency department who are most at risk,” he said.
“When I was appointed Minister for Health I went to Limerick and the team in Limerick quite rightly put it up to me and put it up to Government. They said we need more beds, we need more staff, we need more funding, we need more discharge options.”
Since then, he said, they have added 130 more beds to the hospital group, 100 of which are in Limerick. They are also building capacity for 200 more beds onsite and staff has been increased by over 1,000.
“But the second thing is you have to have reform. One of the most important reforms is seven-day-a-week discharge,” he said.
“You see in the hospitals that are doing the best, their discharge rates on a Saturday and a Sunday are very high. Limerick in contrast to that has the second lowest weekend discharge rate of any hospital in the country.”
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