University Hospital Galway remains under significant pressure today. The hospital is managing the ongoing impacts of high rates of flu and also seeing very high attendances to the Emergency Department. These pressures are impacting our bed availability.
The ED has been extremely busy over recent days, with 193 attendances Saturday and 162 Sunday, there have been 95 patient presentations in the Emergency Department by 1pm today. There are 34 patients on trolleys awaiting admission to an inpatient bed.
Due to the pressures on the site and the lack of bed capacity, the hospital is postponing some elective procedures for tomorrow, Tuesday 07 January. Urgent, time sensitive cases are being prioritised and patients are being contacted directly if their procedure is being postponed.
As always, we treat our sickest patients first, which means that patients who attend the ED for routine and non-urgent treatment will experience very long waiting times.
All available beds in the hospital are in use but regrettably patients are facing long waiting times to be admitted from the Emergency Department to a bed on a ward. Every effort is being made to discharge patients who are ready to go home so that beds will become available for patients who need to be admitted, at the earliest opportunity.
Given the need to control the spread of infection, the hospital is appealing to the public not to visit the hospital if they have any symptoms of flu or other respiratory infection. Masks will be available for all visitors at the entrance of the hospital and visitors are asked to practice good hand hygiene and to use the available hand gel regularly.
Hospital visiting times will continue between 2pm to 4pm and 6pm and 8pm. However, please adhere to the limit of two adult visitors per patient. Children and additional adult visitors are advised not to visit patients in hospital except in exceptional circumstances.
The hospital acknowledges that these delays are very difficult for patients and their families and apologises for the inconvenience and distress these delays cause.
As always we are committed to treating everyone who presents at our ED but we do so strictly in order of medical priority. We continue to request that people consider other options for non-emergency care such as Out of Hours GP and pharmacies before attending an ED. Roscommon Injury Unit is open 365 days a year, from 8am to 8pm and treats a range of minor injuries like breaks, sprains, burns and wounds
For mild illness or non-urgent conditions there are a number of treatment options open to you depending on your illness – being prepared and knowing where to go will mean that you will get treated more quickly and will ease pressures on the healthcare system. Your local out of hours GP service and pharmacies are open this weekend for expert advice and treatment.
Keeping up to date with your vaccines is the most important thing you can do to avoid serious illness from flu and COVID-19.
