The UL Hospitals Group are advising the public to consider all available healthcare options this afternoon to help them avoid long waits for assessment in the Emergency Department.
It comes as a high level of presentations at the ED in Dooradoyle has led to all but the most time-critical elective surgery being cancelled tomorrow at UHL.
Management at the hospital say in the 24 hours between 8am yesterday and this morning, a total of 278 people attended the ED, among them significant numbers of children and frail elderly patients with complex health conditions.
Elective activity is continuing across at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s with the Hospital Management Team keeping the situation under constant review.
Medical teams have been undertaking additional ward rounds to identify patients suitable for transfer to those three hospitals, with management and staff in UHL continuing to work to their Escalation Plan to create surge capacity.
Less acutely unwell patients are asked to consider the local Injury Units, GPs, out-of-hours GP services and pharmacists before attending at the ED.
Injury Units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s are operating as normal, with opening hours in Ennis and Nenagh from 8am -8pm and St John’s Injury Unit being open from 8am to 7pm.
UHL management have apologised to all patients impacted by this decision, who are being contacted directly by hospital staff today.
