Covid pushes hospital services to the brink
Galway’s public health services have become paralysed in the pandemic as Covid-19 continues to push local hospitals to the brink.
Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe postponed surgeries this week, and Galway University Hospitals – Merlin Park and UHG – confirmed it was extending the postponement of procedures announced last week.
On Monday, Saolta University Healthcare Group said that more than 400 staff at UHG were unavailable for work due to Covid-19.
This was causing backlogs in the Emergency Department, where dozens of patients were on trolleys.
Portiuncula and Merlin Park were also experiencing shortages and have redeployed staff to urgent care.
It comes as tighter visitor restrictions have been imposed at the three hospitals. And Covid-19 testing capacity was stretched to the limit, with people still complaining in the past week that they had to wait a long time for, or could not secure, a PCR test in Galway.
On Monday, UHG said it was dealing with Covid-19 outbreaks on two wards, and four more wards were treating patients with Covid-19. Some 71 patients were being treated in UHG, with three in ICU.
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