*Photograph: Sean Curtin / True Media
COVID-19 related staff absences are to result in significant disruptions across UL Hospitals Group which includes Ennis Hospital.
From Tuesday (January 4th), the majority of scheduled surgery and outpatient appointments across UL Hospital Group sites will be deferred. This includes Ennis Hospital, University Hospital Limerick, Nenagh Hospital, St John’s Hospital, and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. All impacted patients are being contacted directly by the hospital.
Services at University Maternity Hospital Limerick are unaffected.
Presently 392 staff of UL Hospitals Group are off work and self-isolating having either tested positive for the virus, been deemed high risk or designated as a close contact of a confirmed case. Contact tracing and testing of both staff and patients continues with appropriate infection controls introduced to mitigate the risk.
Emergency and trauma theatre continues to operate and time-critical outpatient appointments are also being accommodated both face-to-face and virtually. Patients whose appointment or procedure is being affected are being contacted directly by the hospital in advance. The curtailment of services are being kept under continuous review by the UL Hospitals Group Crisis Management Team.
Dialysis (UHL), acute fracture clinic (UHL), cancer services, time-critical outpatient clinics, paediatric clinics and ante-natal clinics will continue.
UHL’s emergency department is reported to be very busy with management encouraging patients to consider all other care options before presenting to the ED. The ED remains open for emergency care and patients should continue to present for life-threatening emergencies such as heart attack or stroke. Injury units in Ennis and Nenagh are open from 8am to 8pm, and in St John’s from 8am to 7pm, seven days a week.
UL Hospitals Group CEO, Colette Cowan, said: “We regret the impact that these cancellations will have on our patients. We will prioritise our most urgent patients for planned procedures and appointments next week and we look forward to increasing activity as soon as possible. The high levels of COVID-19 infection across our communities is having a significant impact on staffing levels and therefore it is imperative that we take the necessary precautions to ensure that time critical and emergency care can go ahead.
“I would like to remind people of the importance of following basic public health measures in the weeks and months ahead such as social distancing, washing their hands and limiting social contacts to help stop the spread of COVID-19,” she added.
