A SIGNIFICANT increase in the numbers of children being hospitalised with swine flu has prompted Dublin’s three children’s hospitals to restrict visiting.
Two of the hospitals are also cancelling some elective surgery.
There has also been a huge increase in the numbers of children attending the hospital’s emergency departments.
In a joint statement yesterday, the Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street; Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin; and the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght, said visiting was being restricted to parents and guardians until further notice. This was “due to the increased numbers of children attending the hospitals with influenza like illness/suspected pandemic (H1N1) 2009 swine flu”.
The hospitals also urged people not to go to emergency departments unnecessarily, saying people should contact their GP first. This is in an attempt to control the spread of swine flu, cases of which have been increasingly rapidly in recent weeks, particularly among younger groups.
Elective admissions to Temple Street and Crumlin are being curtailed, but every effort will be made to prioritise patients on the basis of clinical need, the hospitals said. “Unfortunately, there will be deferrals of appointments and we apologise for this disruption.”
The hospitals said they could not provide figures on the numbers of children being treating for swine flu, saying the HSE had those figures. The HSE refused to provide them.
Meanwhile, swine flu vaccination campaigns began in the UK and in the North yesterday, starting with healthcare workers and at-risk patients in hospitals.
Supplies of the pandemic vaccine for at-risk groups aged six months to 65 years are now being distributed to GPs in the Republic with a view to commencing vaccinations on November 2nd.
At least two GPs who told the HSE they were not prepared to deliver the swine flu programme to at-risk groups received the vaccine yesterday. In one case the blunder resulted in the vaccine being left out of a fridge too long and it had to be disposed of. The HSE said its delivery schedule lists were being updated.
Separately, discussions are ongoing between the HSE and the Irish Medical Organisation, on behalf of GPs, around concerns some doctors raised over indemnity for administering the swine flu jab. Medisec, insurer of many GPs, clarified yesterday that administering the vaccine was deemed to be normal GP work and therefore GPs were covered for administering the vaccine.
Meanwhile, another person has died from swine flu in the North, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus there to eight. There have been five deaths in the Republic.
The latest death in the North was that of Ashleigh Lynch (14) who attended the same special needs school in Derry and was in the same class as Orla O’Kane who died from the virus almost two weeks ago.
There was controversy when it emerged that Orla O’Kane’s parents had not been told she died of swine flu until a few days after her funeral.