Patients and staff exposed to pandemic because of pressure on UHG facilities
Healthcare workers in Galway’s main public hospital were six times more likely to be infected with Covid-19 than the rest of the community during the first wave of the global pandemic last year, new research suggests.
An interim report into a longitudinal study by steering group PRECISE, which measured the prevalence of Covid-19 in University Hospital Galway and St James Hospital in Dublin, also highlighted that a large number of healthcare workers contracted the virus without knowing they had it.
The findings of the report, coupled with new revelations from Government that one in three patients are picking up the virus in hospital, has prompted a Galway TD to push for regular testing of front-line hospital staff.
Galway/Roscommon TD Denis Naughten said: “Our hospitals should be about making people better, not about picking up a virus that could be deadly.
“While the HSE has stuck rigidly to the argument that these infections were as a result of staff picking up Covid in the community, the publication of a HSE report on Covid infection in hospitals exposes the fact that there was a six times higher rate of Covid-19 exposure in our hospitals than in the local community.”
Senior Saolta staff also confirmed the hospital infections in a briefing for Galway City Councillors this week.
The Councillors were told that – despite staff taking all hygiene precautions and wearing full PPE – patients who tested negative on entry to hospital were catching this more infectious strain in wards where up to 13 patients were sharing a single toilet.
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