Flu surge: GP says ‘nearly all’ cases coming before him are now respiratory related

Cork University Hospital (CUH) was topping the list for numbers waiting on hospital trolleys on Friday with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation reporting some 37 people on trolleys in the hospital while the Mercy University Hospital was joint third highest nationally with 20 on trolleys.

Cork City Council Fianna Fáil councillor and Blackpool based GP Dr John Sheehan said he was not surprised to learn that CUH was the hospital with the highest number of people on trolleys such were the numbers presenting at GP practices in the city recently with respiratory complaints.

“My experience is that people are doing everything they can to avoid going to the A&E. You are trying to persuade people to go there who may need it, but they are really reluctant to go – fear and dread is what people are feeling at the prospect of going in there,” he said.

“I’m not surprised at the numbers at CUH. I’ve been on duty with Southdoc in Blackpool recently and it’s been some of the busiest times that I have ever had. Around 80 per cent of what I saw the other evening was respiratory related whereas normally, respiratory might be down around 50 per cent.

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“Now it’s nearly all respiratory and the difficulty with that of course is that when the rate of viral infections goes up, the rate of meningitis goes up, the rate of other things too so it’s not just the rate of viral things that’s adding to the challenge.”

Mayfield based Cllr Ted Tynan of the Workers Party said that while he hadn’t been contacted directly by anyone with relatives spending hours on a trolley at CUH, it appeared to him that people seemed to be almost accepting of long delays in admission that really weren’t acceptable.

“I ask the question: Do these delays happen in a private hospital? It’s a political issue and the Minister for Health is supposed to be in charge of the public health service and yet he seems to be remote from the HSE – the whole thing is chaotic and it’s getting worse every winter,” he said.

Several other councillors contacted by The Irish Times including Cllr Derry Canty and Cllr Damian Boylan of Fine Gael, Cllr Dan Boyle of the Green Party and Independent Cllr Mick Finn said they were aware from media reports of long delays, but they had not been contacted by anyone about them.

Earlier this week, Mercy University Hospital, which today has 20 patients on trolleys, renewed its appeal to those members of the public not in need of urgent care to avoid attending its Emergency Department due to the high numbers already attending there.

Damien McCallion, HSE chief operating officer, said on Friday hospitals were bracing for a difficult winter period over the coming weeks.

“There are a number of hospitals that are under more pressure than others, I would say now everywhere is seeing increased demand,” he said.

There were 360 patients waiting to be seen in emergency departments on Friday morning, down from a high of 760 earlier in the week, according to the Irish Nurse and Midwives Organisation’s “trolley watch” count.

Some 635 people were in hospital with Covid-19 infections as of 8pm on Thursday, according to the HSE. In total there were 301 patients in intensive care units, 22 of whom had Covid-19, latest figures show.