Critical week for hospital as Covid pressures mount
SERIOUS CONCERNS AS LATEST FIGURES SHOW 67 PEOPLE HOSPITALISED AND 9 IN ICU WITH FURTHER RISE ANTICIPATED
WEXFORD General Hospital has now entered a critical phase in its battle against Covid-19. In the past week alone, the hospital has seen nearly 40 new patients admitted with the virus. This week began with 67 hospitalised and nine people battling Covid in the critical care unit.
Meetings are taking place on a near hourly basis as management look at the best way to battle back from the brink. The ICU is currently operating at more than double its standard capacity and staff say that, while a small number of additional critical care beds can be created, it’s hard to keep up with demand.
Staff have also been warned that, in a worst case scenario, close contact healthcare workers who are isolating may be called back to the frontline before their 14 day isolation period is up. Management are asking people to ‘stay home’ in a bid to ease the pressure.
FRONTLINE staff are battling a rising tide at Wexford General Hospital as the numbers of people hospitalised with Covid-19 continues to rise. At various points over the past week, staff members have described the hospital as ‘a war-zone’ as they work hard to treat those who have fallen ill with the virus and prevent any further spread within the hospital walls.
In the past week alone, Wexford General has seen an increase of 38 people hospitalised on the expanded Covid wards to a figure of 67, with a total of 9 people now seriously ill in critical care.
The descent to this point has been rapid. On December 1, there was just one person hospitalised with the virus - a long term patient in ICU.
Three Covid wards are now in operation at Wexford General. The figure of 67 looked set to increase further in the coming 24 hours and other procedures have already been moved to Ely House in a bid to free up additional space in the day ward. Significant work was done on the third floor of Ely House early on in the pandemic and it is still believed to be on standby to take Covid patients should the hospital require crisis surge capacity.
This week has seen Consultant in Emergency Medicine Dr Mick Molloy speak out on how hospitals could be forced to employ ‘lifeboat ethics’ should the situation deteriorate any further. Effectively, with only a limited number of critical care beds available, this is a situation which could see someone moved out of ICU in favour of another person deemed a higher priority and more likely to recover.
‘Every part of the system is under pressure,’ Dr Molloy said. ‘We ask people to reduce their contacts further and to take the vaccine at the earliest available opportunity to them.’
Dr Molloy indicated that the danger period where people tend to land in hospital is between day 10 and 14. Ten days ago, Wexford saw 341 new cases confirmed, meaning that the hospital may have further waves heading towards them yet.
There’s been a lot of talk of ICU capacity in Wexford over the past week. In normal times, the hospital has five ICU beds. Currently, there are 10 and it still isn’t enough. All are full and additional capacity is being opened up in recovery areas. The latest figures published yesterday (Monday) showed 9 people in critical care with Covid, while three non-Covid patients were also said to be currently in critical care.
Another Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the hospital said that, while it’s majorly concerning, more capacity can be created in an emergency.
‘Of course capacity can be increased,’ he said. ‘We can set up ICU beds in theatre recovery rooms etc. The problem is generally the availability of trained nursing staff to cover these ICU beds. However in Wexford we’re lucky that we have a number of ICU trained nurses working in other areas of the hospital that can be redeployed if necessary.’
Staffing is becoming an issue at the hospital though it seems. All annual leave has been cancelled until further notice and last week a letter circulated to staff that stated that those currently isolating as close contacts of a positive case may be required to return to work on the wards before their 14 day isolation period is up.
‘Due to concern about the impact of cases on staffing levels,’ the letter stated. ‘Close contacts of household cases can be derogated if staffing levels are severely impacted and as a last resort. As always, only senior management can make the decision to derogate a healthcare worker and this must be based on risk assessment.’
As a further precaution, all pregnant healthcare workers have now been removed from areas where they could likely come into contact with Covid patients, having now been defined as ‘high risk’.
While the numbers of cases being confirmed on a daily basis in Co Wexford seem to be on a downward trajectory, Wexford General is certainly not out of the woods yet. It’s likely that this week will see more Covid patients arriving at the hospital for treatment and the hospital’s ability to cope will hinge on how quick the current crop of Covid patients can recover and whether they can be discharged to make way for more. While the average stay at Wexford General pre-pandemic was 4 days, people with the virus are requiring hospitalisation for up to 20 days for those that don’t require ICU.
‘I would rather hope that we’ve reached a plateau,’ a consultant at the hospital said. ‘I think given the slowdown (Level 5 restrictions), as long as it doesn’t spread further in the community we can hopefully manage to stay on top of things. The hospital is coping for now, largely due to being better prepared for others and showing the leadership to cancel elective procedures etc back in December - something management were criticised for at the time. We would strongly urge people to stay at home and follow best advice. Do it to protect yourself and your families.’
This was a message echoed by hospital management. In a statement, Manager Linda O’Leary said: ‘Wexford General Hospital is currently extremely busy. The sudden and sharp surge of Covid-19 cases in the community has meant pressure has increased on every aspect of the hospital.’
‘Wexford General Hospital asks everyone to follow the public health advice. Stay at home, keep your distance, wear a mask and wash your hands. We would also like to remind the general public that if anyone is experiencing Covid-19 like symptoms, they should please contact their GP in the first instance. Please avoid coming directly to ED if you feel you might need to be treated for Covid-19 or you wish to have a test.’
Hospital management thanked the Wexford public for their messages of support as they keep a constant eye on the daily numbers in a bid to calculate the extent of oncoming crisis.