Thurles Information

Management at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), latter providing medical services to North Tipperary, have declared a major internal incident, due to the record high attendances at its Emergency Department (ED) today.

A spokesperson for the hospital has stated that patients attending UHL ED with non-emergency care will face an exceptionally long wait before receiving any necessary care, due to the massive surge in patients experiencing respiratory infections, including Covid-19, Flu and Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection (RSV)

Less acutely unwell patients are being asked to first consider Injury Units; GPs; out-of-hours GP services; and pharmacists before attending at UHL’s hospital emergency department.

In order to try to address the worsening situation at the hospital, UHL has sent out an S.O.S call for off-duty staff to return and present themselves to the hospital for work duty; while additional surge beds are being opened at hospitals in Ennis Co. Clare; Nenagh Co. Tipperary, and in St. John’s Co. Limerick.

Day beds at University Hospital Limerick are also being converted to inpatient beds, with a renewed focus on discharging current patients.

All outpatient appointments at UHL, scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, January 3rd, have been cancelled and only urgent elective surgery will be undertaken over the coming days.

Note: Injury Units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s will continue to operate as normal, while all visiting to UHL is now severely restricted, to parents of children, those visiting patients who are critically unwell and those assisting confused patients (e.g. dementia).

The National Ambulance Service (NAS) have also been asked to divert some patients to other acute hospitals, in an effort to support the extreme levels of demand at UHL.

A Covid-19 booster vaccination is to be offered to anyone aged between 18 to 49 years of age, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed, with appointment bookings being encouraged from today.

Same information comes as hospitals remain under severe pressure with significant numbers of people waiting for admission, lying on trolleys in emergency departments; same situation driven by a sudden rise in respiratory infections, including Covid-19 and the flu.

The number of patients in our hospitals today, having come into contact with the Covid-19 virus is 723, down 14 patients on yesterday’s declared figure, with 38 patients in ICU, the latter being a rise of 6 on yesterday’s number. Just 7 days previously, there were 655 patients with the virus in our hospital wards.

People are being encouraged to attend at central vaccination clinics, and note, booster vaccine will also be available from your local GPs and pharmacies.