SIPTU: St Luke’s Hospital in ‘dire straits’ with 34 Covid-19 patients

A representative of staff at St Luke’s says the local hospital is in ‘dire straits’ as it struggles to deal with the latest coronavirus numbers.

Management have been forced to shut down all outpatient clinics and elective inpatient services until Tuesday and we’re all being asked to stay away from the ED except in the case of an urgent emergency.

Latest figures show there’s 34 patients being treated for Covid-19 in the local hospital for Carlow and Kilkenny and 17 people were on trolleys waiting for beds on Thursday morning.

SIPTU rep Denis Hynes says the frontline workers are doing trojan work to battle the virus but he agains highlighted the need for more recruitment.