Wexford General Hospital fire: ‘We’re in a sort of limbo,’ says local doctor

Local medical service providers found themselves in “a sort of limbo” as they waited for word on Thursday of just how badly impacted Wexford General Hospital might be by the fire that has damaged wards containing around 100 beds. It also resulted in the temporary closure of the facility which provides emergency, maternity and many other services to the population of a large catchment area in the southeast.

Units of the fire brigade that had fought the blaze for a number of hours before extinguishing it on Wednesday were gone by late morning on Thursday. The steady stream of ambulances that had evacuated all but 29 of the hospital’s roughly 200 patients had ceased too. Instead, with staff turning up for work as normal and the carpark full, it was just the quietness of the place along with the presence of a few Garda cars and contractors’ vans that suggested things were not as they should be.

From out front, the facade gave little sense of the damage inside but a portion of the roof that poked into view beyond the main building was all but completely destroyed. It was in this part of the hospital, where smoke and water added to the toll taken by the flames themselves, that work continued all day to assess what might possibly be reopened right away and what the timeline might be for getting the rest back to working order.

A couple of kilometres away, at the Abbey Medical Centre, a busy general practice attached to a primary care centre, Dr Kieran McCormack spoke of his shock on Wednesday as he heard news of the fire on the radio while returning from a meeting in Waterford. He then saw the plume of smoke rising high into the air as he approached home.

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[ Response to Wexford hospital fire shows staff were well trained, says expert ]

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “Other things go on fire. Not hospitals.”

“I had to slow down to take it all in. You’re concerned for everyone’s safety, obviously, and then the jobs. Then, as I approached Wexford, I could see the smoke billowing. I didn’t go there because we were asked not to and it was only this morning when I saw some drone footage that I was somewhat reassured because it appeared that only certain parts were damaged.”

His relief was tinged with frustration as he came to work on Thursday.

“We had a meeting this morning about what to expect but we heard nothing official. There was a phone number for information and we had to ring that the same as anyone else. It took us ages to get through and we asked was there a hotline for GPs to get up to speed, to be able to organise bits and pieces but there wasn’t. But everybody’s going to be ringing us asking what they should do.”

[ More than 200 patients evacuated as ‘major emergency’ declared at Wexford General Hospital following fire ]

Dr McCormack says he heard some behind-the-scenes work actually continued as normal over the course of Thursday and heard suggestions by early evening that the emergency department might be reopening. But much of what he came to know over the course of the day came from contacts, something he found deeply frustrating.

“There’s this information deficit, that’s the problem. It’s not what is or isn’t, it’s the fact that we don’t know because once we know, we can plan. As it is, our secretary is fielding calls from patients who are extremely anxious and all she can say is that ‘we’ll let you know when we know ourselves’. We’re in a sort of limbo.”

Despite the hospital’s emergency department being closed today, he said there had not been any great influx of unexpected patients and that the practice had been able to find slots to accommodate those who did materialise.

“Caredoc, who operate from 6 o’clock might feel it more. Hopefully the hospital will start to be operational again by Monday. We need it.”