The South East has seen an explosion of Covid-19 cases in the past month according to a Waterford GP.
University Hospital Waterford has the country’s highest number of patients being treated for the virus, at 125.
Meanwhile St Luke’s, the general hospital for Carlow and Kilkenny, is treating 27 people battling coronavirus.
Both are among 12 hospitals nationwide reporting no availability of critical care beds today.
There are also no general beds available at St Luke’s, with 11 people left waiting on trollies in A&E this morning.
Waterford’s 14-day infection rate is just ahead of Carlow’s on 991 per 100,000, and is fourth highest in the country.
Dr Dermot Nolan of Tramore Medical Clinic has been telling KCLR that the rising numbers are having a severe knock-on effect on the entire health system.
“A major problem at the moment is a lot of the diagnostic things, like people waiting to get a scope to check if they have bowel cancer or a scope to see if they’ve lung cancer. That’s been ceased in Waterford, the Regional Cancer Centre” he told KCLR Live. “So one of the big problems we’re seeing at the moment is the delayed diagnosis of patients with cancer because the service for those patients has totally stopped.”
University Hospital Waterford has responded to the concerns today, insisting that they are still offering suitable care to both Covid and non-Covid patients. However, they have also confirmed that their Crisis Management Team is monitoring the situation as it progresses.
Read their full statement below;
“University Hospital Waterford (UHW) remains very busy caring for both Covid and non-Covid patients. A number of these Covid patients currently require some form of oxygen support.
A large number of staff are also unavailable for Covid related reasons and where necessary, staff have been redeployed within the hospital. The Crisis Management Team continue to manage the issues arising and the hospital continues to implement all Covid-19 controls and protocols.
Management and staff at UHW are appealing to members of the public to play their part by continuing to follow the Government’s Covid-19 guidelines to ensure that they do not contribute to the spread of Covid-19 and to take the appropriate course of action if they develop symptoms.”
