More than 100 nurses at Cork University Hospital (CUH) are currently unable to work due to reasons relating to Covid-19, the hospital’s management has confirmed.
The intensive care unit at the hospital is “extremely busy”, according to a statement from the hospital’s management. To control the situation, all non-essential surgeries have been cancelled for this coming week. Only emergency surgeries and critical elective cancer surgeries will proceed, while outpatient services will also be “greatly reduced” in the coming week, the statement says.
CUH is urging people to avoid its emergency department unless absolutely necessary. The hospital said the emergency department has been “exceptionally busy” over the last number of days due to a large number of very ill patients requiring admission.
The hospital has requested that people contact their GP, the regional community medical service South Doc, the Mercy Urgent Care Centre or local injury units in Bantry or Mallow.
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Of the 3,394 confirmed cases notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on Saturday, 389 were in Cork — the highest of any county in Ireland.
Meanwhile, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is warning that hospitals across the country are under “extreme pressure”. A large number of patients presenting at hospitals combined with high levels of staff self-isolating or out on leave related to Covid-19, has created a “deeply disturbing” situation for hospitals, the INMO has said.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said increased admissions and depleting staff numbers is a “vicious combination”.
“What we are hearing from members across the country this weekend is deeply disturbing…the sheer numbers are difficult to cope with,” she said.
Pressure on hospitals must be eased if staff are to be able to cater to the needs of patients with and without coronavirus, as well as running a mass vaccination scheme, Ms Ní Sheaghdha said.
The INMO is calling for additional capacity to be sourced from the private sector and for childcare needs of frontline workers to be taken into account by the government.
