INJURIES:WITH THE beginnings of a thaw followed by intense freezing, underfoot conditions have significantly worsened, resulting in even larger numbers of patients with fractures and dislocations presenting at hospital emergency departments around the country.
The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine said falls in icy conditions tended to be heavy and result in greater bone and joint trauma than normal falls.
“Many victims require surgical intervention rather than treatment in plaster alone,” the association’s president, Dr Fergal Hickey, said.
“The increased number of patients needing surgical procedures on the background of bed closures throughout the country has resulted in worsening overcrowding in already overcrowded emergency departments where patients who have been admitted for surgery are obliged to wait in the emergency department with other admitted inpatients, pending allocation of a hospital bed.
“The association seeks the assistance of the public in being patient as waiting times to be seen are likely to increase nationwide and those who require hospital admission are likely to spend a significant period of their admission on an emergency department trolley,” Dr Hickey added.
His association reminded the public of the importance of trying to avoid injuries by only going outside if absolutely necessary, wearing appropriate footwear with a good grip, walking slowly and carefully bearing in mind ice that is not always visible, and not walking with hands in pockets or using mobile phones as this could prevent one using an arm to break a fall, potentially causing a more significant head or chest injury.
Some hospitals, including the Mater and Tallaght in Dublin, were reporting extra work for orthopaedic consultants.
However, Peter O’Rourke, an orthopaedic surgeon at Letterkenny General Hospital, said he was not as busy as he would have expected. Over the weekend his hospital dealt with up to eight ankle fractures, three broken hips and a few wrist fractures.
“We are not being swamped or anything like that,” he said, as snow continued to fall in Donegal.
David Moore, an orthopaedic specialist at Tallaght, said numbers needing surgery for fractures had trebled at the hospital. He advised people to carry walking sticks to aid balance on the ice.