Hospitals aim to get back to ‘normal’ service
Non-emergency but necessary operations and surgery will resume soon at the city’s hospitals, according to local hospital management – as the latest figures confirm the spread of Covid-19 in Galway is being curtailed.
Urgent time-dependent cancer surgery and chemotherapy has continued during the pandemic but all non-essential procedures were postponed to allow the hospital system to respond to Covid-19 admissions.
“What we’re planning is how we get ‘normal’ patient activity restarted,” said Dr Pat Nash, Chief Clinical Director of Saolta Hospitals Group and consultant cardiologist.
“The majority of care had been put on hold over the last four weeks but we need to put a process in place to re-start that, where we’re cognisant of the fact that we need to do business differently due to social distancing, and also prioritising screening of patients before they come in.
“That’s where we see the role of using the two private hospitals (Galway Clinic and Bon Secours) that are now in the public system, to be able to keep them Covid-free and to do those activities that need to be done in the next three months while this arrangement is in place,” he said.
Elective joint replacement – such as hips – won’t yet resume, but other cases that are more severe will soon restart.
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