High Covid numbers at CGH continue

At the start of this week Cavan General Hospital reported 43 inpatients had tested positive for COVID-19, as staff at the acute hospital facility continue to manage multiple outbreaks of Covid and Flu there.

This was an increase on the figures reported from the weekend. Numbers had remained in the high thirties all week.

Local health services, both acute and in the community, remain under pressure this week with high levels of patients reporting respiratory illnesses.

Also on Monday, there were 390 patients on trolleys in Emergency Departments nationally waiting to be treated, while 99 were without a bed in wards elsewhere in hospitals.

The figures provided by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) included 21 people on trolleys in the ED in Cavan, and one patient waiting elsewhere.

In reaction to the continuing health crisis in hospitals, last week the Executive Council of the nursing union sanctioned the beginning of a consultation on a proposed campaign of industrial action.

INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “For too long nurses and midwives have been warning that we were going to see an overcrowding blackspot in January unless serious and meaningful action was taken.”

She added: “Nurses and midwives expect and deserve to work in a safe practice environment in which they can deliver the safe and excellent care they are trained to provide.”

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Cavan's Emergency Department dealing with 'unprecedented' numbers