Half of people attending emergency departments this month have flu, says HSE

Ireland’s flu season struck well ahead of its expected arrival in 2019, and saw a surge in the country’s trolley figures across December.

At the HSE’s winter briefing in Dublin today, health officials said that the number of people on trolleys in emergency departments for the year to date stood at 113,059, some 13,513 — or 13.6%, more than the previous year’s figure.