The ransomware attack on the HSE IT systems continues to have a considerable impact on hospital services at Galway University Hospitals
Chris Kane, General Manager at Galway University Hospitals said, “Work continued over the weekend to get priority systems back up and running including radiology, diagnostic/laboratory and patient information systems. We need to have these systems back working fully in order to resume all hospital services.
“We are not yet in a position to resume outpatient appointments, apart from maternity outpatient appointments.
“Most elective inpatient and day case procedures remain cancelled. A small number of elective orthopaedic procedures will be going ahead in Merlin Park University Hospital along with some surgical day ward and urgent/time-sensitive procedures in University Hospital Galway. In these cases we will contact the patients directly to confirm that their appointment will go ahead.
“Patients attending the Emergency Department are facing extremely long delays as the radiology and laboratory systems are not up and running. Essential services like blood tests and diagnostic services are taking much longer to operate than usual, using manual processes, which is significantly increasing turnaround times for patients. Patients needing urgent care will be prioritised. We ask patients to contact their GP or GP Out Of Hours Service in the first instance if their health problem is not urgent.
“For now maternity services, dialysis treatment, chemotherapy treatment and physiotherapy appointments are going ahead. Last Wednesday (26 May ) we resumed radiotherapy services for patients undergoing treatment.
“We would like to thank all our patients and their families for their support at this difficult time and apologise for the current disruptions and delays.”
Overview of current hospital disruptions:
CANCELLATIONS
· Outpatient clinics (apart from Maternity clinics ) are cancelled.
· Diagnostics including x-ray, CT scans, MRI appointments and cardiac investigations are cancelled.
· Endoscopy services are cancelled.
· Most elective inpatient and day case procedures are cancelled. A number of orthopaedic procedures will go ahead in Merlin Park and a number of surgical day ward and urgent/time-sensitive procedures will go ahead in UHG. In these cases patients will be contacted directly to confirm that their appointment will go ahead. Patients are asked not to come to the hospital unless contacted directly.
MATERNITY SERVICES
All maternity services including antenatal scanning are going ahead.
Women are being contacted directly in relation to their colposcopy appointments.
DIALYSIS
Patients should attend their dialysis appointments unless contacted and advised otherwise
CHEMOTHERAPY
Patients who are due to attend the Haematology/Oncology Day Ward for chemotherapy treatment are asked to telephone 091 544890 or 087 9200753 between 9am and 5pm for advice on their appointment. The hospital is trying to accommodate day case chemotherapy where possible.
RADIOTHERAPY
Services have restarted for patients who are undergoing treatment. Patients who are due to start treatment will be contacted by the hospital directly. Patients who have questions about their radiotherapy treatment can call the following numbers for advice: 091 542603 (radiotherapy booking ) or 091 542607 (nursing ) or 091 542523 (admin ) between 9am and 4pm.
RAPID ACCESS LUNG SERVICE
Patients who are due to attend the Rapid Access Lung Service at University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park University Hospital are asked to telephone 087 702 4370 or 087 405 7106 between 9am and 5pm for advice on their appointment.
Ongoing updates on service disruptions will be provided on hse.ie and on saolta.ie
