Portiuncula University Hospital (PUH ) has taken the decision to defer all but very urgent and time critical inpatient and day surgery for an initial two week period.
Outpatient clinics will continue virtually unless it is absolutely necessary for patients to be seen. These measures are been taken to help the hospital manage the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases currently being treated in the hospital and the rising numbers in the community which are likely to lead to further hospitalisations. The deferrals will be for a two week period initially and will be kept under review.
“We regret the impact that these deferrals will have on our patients but it is a really important part of maintaining critical and emergency services.
“We are notifying patients directly if their appointment or procedure is being deferred. We ask patients who are attending the hospital for a procedure, urgent outpatients or maternity-related scans to continue to follow all the public health guidance including wearing a face mask. We also remind patients to attend the hospital alone, unless the support of another person is essential.
“Visiting restrictions remain in place at the hospital. Members of the public should not visit the hospital except on compassionate grounds and these visits should be arranged in advance with the nurse manager on the ward.
“The hospital continues to be extremely busy and we would also like to remind the public that we encourage them to attend the Emergency Department only in the case of emergencies. If your health problem is not an emergency you should contact your GP during normal surgery hours or the Westdoc GP out of hours service, in the first instance.
“In relation to the Covid-19 vaccination programme, we anticipate that the roll-out of the vaccines to front line workers in the hospital will commence this week. This is a very positive step and we will work hard to get all staff vaccinated as quickly as possible,” James Keane, Hospital Manager at PUH, said.
