Crowded waiting rooms in the outpatients departments of our major hospitals have to be a thing of the past and will be tolerated anymore, the Regional Health Forum was told at its meeting held via Zoom on Tuesday.
Ann Cosgrave, the Saolta group's chief operations officer, said that the hospitals are in the process of restoring a range of services such as elective surgical and outpatient services, but the procedures and measures put in place to protect staff and patients from Covid-19 will impact greatly and change the shape of these services.
"We have been undertaking some outpatients services through virtual clinics. The response to Covid19 has shown that we have learned how to work differently and that will be the case for some time to come," she said adding that no longer are we going to see overcrowded waiting rooms in Outpatient departments, with many consultations and services delivered remotely and online.
She said "zero tolerance" for patients waiting for admission on hospital trolleys would also be a major challenge.
She added that with this in mind, discussions are continuing with private hospitals so that the public system can have some level of access when the existing agreement expires.
Ms Cosgrove told the meeting a recommendation that hospitals not operate at over 80% capacity would also be challenging and already some hospitals in the group are running at 90-95% capacity.
She told the meeting that the hospitals will have two streams (Covid and non-Covid ) and that these will impact on how services are delivered.
Visiting restrictions are in place and will be for the forseeable future, she said, adding that the winter ahead will bring its own issues, such as ensuring that the highest possible uptake of flu vaccination is achieved, probably through peer vaccination. She also paid tribute to the support the hospitals have received from bodies such as NUI Galway and Cancer Care West and neighbouring businesses.
The meeting had earlier heard from Breda Crehan Roche, Community Healthcare West who said that there had been 1,466 cases of Covid-19 in the west, but that since June 1, there have only been 16.
"This figure is remarkable given that at the height of the pandemic, we had 200 or 300 cases a week, and now we are down to very low figures," she said.
She added that the mass testing had been very effective with up to 19,000 per month tested. She said that 4,000 staff across sectors are to be tested each week for the next few months. She said the Community Assessment Hubs around the region have been scaled down which is a good indication of the decline of the virus.
Ms Crehan Roche said that they also provided accommodation support to staff throughout the crisis, but that now only 29 staff remain in accommodation and that these will be phased out as well as the hospitality and hotel sector begins to re-open.
Saolta chief Tony Canavan said that the management of Covid 19 has been a complex task but one which has been achieved with the common sense of purpose of staff and society in general.
