Cork's Mercy hospital joins CUH in urging non-emergency patients to stay away 

Mercy University Hospital, Cork, has implemented its escalation policy to deal with a surge in activity at its emergency department. Picture: Dan Linehan

Cork's Mercy University Hospital (MUH) has joined Cork University Hospital (CUH) in urging people to stay away from its emergency department (ED) unless it is an emergency.

At CUH, it was taking up to 12 hours to see a doctor yesterday due to ongoing issues from the HSE ransomware attack.

"Due to the surge in activity at the ED, the hospital suggests members of the public needing less urgent treatment avail, where possible, of other care services," said a spokesperson for MUH. "Patients with less urgent complaints are advised to contact their GPs or SouthDoc. 

"The hospital has implemented its escalation policy to deal with the high number of attendees at the ED.” 

Ahead of the busy bank holiday weekend, the HSE said in a midday Friday update on the ransomware situation that healthcare services around the country continue to be “severely impacted by the cyberattack”.

“Our EDs are open for all emergencies but are very busy,” it said. 

Only attend if you need urgent care. Please consider all other care options.

“Although essential services are continuing, our systems are not functioning as usual and patients may experience delays and in some cases cancellations. Most hospitals are still dealing with substantial challenges and limited functionality."

The Defence Forces has been working with CUH and other HSE hospitals to repair their IT systems following the cyberattack.

At CUH, the help is given by 1 Field CIS Corps, Collins Barracks Cork, and the naval service.

Following a request by the HSE, this has been going on since May 18, said a Defence Forces spokeswoman.

University Hospital Limerick and University Hospital Kerry are also getting a boost from the Defence Forces, she added.

Altogether, it is working with 13 HSE sites, including the two children’s hospitals in Crumlin and Temple St in Dublin.

The spokeswoman said the Defence Forces is providing “ongoing IT support, technicians, and computer incident response teams in order to support the HSE and contractors with re-establishing their IT network".

CUH professor of emergency medicine Conor Deasy made an appeal on RTÉ radio for non-urgent cases to try to steer clear of the hospital’s overcrowded ED.

“This has been an extremely difficult three weeks for patients attending the hospital and all our staff,” he said. 

"We are still in the thick of it, and patients are experiencing extreme delays. 

This is far more challenging than Covid, which hasn't gone away either."

He said patients, who in some cases have waited over 12 hours to be seen by a doctor in the ED, did not realise the full extent of the ransomware attack on frontline care delivery.

"If we were an airline we would be grounded, we would be shut down, and we wouldn't be allowed to fly," he said. 

“It would be so unsafe, but we're not an airline, we're a hospital, and we have to keep vital services going and we have to continue delivering emergency services.”