HSE may use hotel rooms to quarantine corona patients
THE Health Service Executive is in talks aimed at quarantining patients in hotel rooms as they brace for the impact the coronavirus will have on hospitals.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said the prospect of using hotel rooms for isolation purposes was being considered and that a number of hotel operators had made contact, offering to accommodate patients.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said that ‘more funding’ will be made available to the HSE in order to source further capacity, if it is sought.
The HSE said that 1,000 home tests are now being conducted daily by national ambulance staff, with results now ready in two to six hours. The rollout of 12 community hubs is planned where patients can go for testing in a bid to test as many patients locally as possible.
Defence Force personnel have been drafted in to assist the HSE. There are currently 23 cadets assisting in contact tracing but their support could develop into further logistical and transportation roles too.
Admissions to hospitals have dropped sharply, resulting in a fall in the number of patients on trolleys with just 57 as of yesterday morning compared with 275 on March 6.
At least four patients who tested positive for the virus on March 4 were being treated at the hospital.
The hospital has declined to comment on claims by a senior physician at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) that it was considering organising hotel accommodation for staff dealing with patients with Covid-19, as part of social-distancing measures aimed at tackling the spread of the virus.
Dr Catherine Nix also said she believes no hospital will be able to cope with a complete and total outbreak of coronavirus, but that ‘surge plans’ have been prepared at UHL.
Dr Nix, a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care, adjunct senior lecturer at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, and Chair Medical Board, UHL, said: ‘The hospital are talking about organising accommodation for staff in high-risk zones.
‘What that would mean is the hospital would organise one hotel where all the health workers would stay.’
The HSE confirmed yesterday that it is talking to the hotel sector regarding isolation beds for patients but did not make any comment regarding staff.
In a statement last night a UHL spokesman said: ‘Please be advised that the HSE and the Department of Health are not providing information about individual activations of preparedness plans or about individual cases of Covid19 (coronavirus) other than confirmed cases.
‘The Department of Health are holding daily briefings to provide updates on cases. Times for these briefings may change, so please check with the Department for confirmation.’
The approach which has been taken to date in Ireland is in line with guidance from the WHO and ECDC, they added.
The HSE national press office did not respond.
Dr Nix also revealed that UHL has organised five separate levels of ‘surge plans’ to try to deal with any increase in cases of Covid-19.
Self-isolation is key ‘to make sure Lombardy does not come to Limerick’, Dr Nix said.
‘We need to do that right now, because we already have community spread of this disease, so that’s how outbreaks work.
‘We have moved from single cases
‘One hotel where staff could stay’
to clusters. I am not visiting my parents at the moment.’
If the public do not practice social distancing and self-isolation hospitals with capacity issues already, such as UHL, will be overwhelmed, which may increase ‘mortality rates’.
‘What I want to do is educate people that this is not just a virus problem, this is a healthcare capacity problem,’ Dr Nix said.
‘The 12 ICU beds presently available at UHL are not enough to cope with an outbreak.
‘I think the answer to that is obvious. I don’t think anybody can deal with a situation where their system is overwhelmed. In the event of an outbreak, it’s not [ready].
‘To be fair there’s pressure on every hospital. If we get some seriously ill cases and they come in [to UHL] sequentially, we have some chance.’