Hospitals 'nearly at point' of deferring care, HSE says

The number of Covid patients in hospitals is increasing, from 38 over the past three weeks to 80 today, while the number in ICU rose from 13 to 22 during that time.

Hospitals are “nearly at a point” where they will have to defer scheduled care, due to increased presentations at emergency departments, the HSE has warned.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals is increasing, from 38 over the past three weeks to 80 today, while the number in ICU rose from 13 to 22 during that time.

However, non-Covid presentations have also increased significantly in recent weeks, putting hospitals under pressure.

There were 140 available beds on Tuesday, just over a third of the expected 400 for this time of year.

Dr Anne O’Connor, chief operations officer at the HSE, said hospitals are 'not that far away' from having to postpone or defer appointments again.

“The way it’s looking today, in terms of unscheduled care. We are nearly at a point of some of our big sites having to slow down on scheduled care,” she said.

“That’s more to do with the general activity, it’s not necessarily Covid cases. But the more Covid cases we have coming through the doors ... nobody wants to get to the point of cancelling care.” 

Dr O’Connor said there are a couple of things driving higher attendances, including "frailty and acuity" among older people which could be attributed to cocooning over the past year.

Meanwhile, chief executive of the HSE Paul Reid, said there was a need to be “extremely cautious” in the coming weeks, as 994 cases of the virus were reported to the National Public Health Emergency Team.

Mr Reid said the Delta variant has "accelerated much quicker than we thought it would" and that the HSE is on a "higher alert" due to the rising case numbers and hospitalisations.

The 14-day incidence rate in Ireland has increased by 50% compared to where it was two weeks ago.

Niamh O’Beirne, the HSE’s national lead for testing and tracing, said the system is currently “in surge”, with demand increasing by 25% when compared to yesterday, and more than 20,000 tests being conducted daily.

“The positivity rate in our testing sites continues to increase. Over the last seven days, the positivity rate was 5.9%, but yesterday it was 7.8% and in some sites, we have a positivity rate of 15% in parts of the country,” she added.

Ms O’Beirne also announced that the HSE would begin to use antigen tests for close contacts in the coming weeks, with four tests being provided to contacts to test themselves.

Approximately 5% of new cases have been identified in individuals who are fully vaccinated.

However, Mr Reid said the vaccination programme is doing well, with almost 5m vaccines administered to date.

Some 2.7m people have received the first dose (73% of adults) and 2.2m (59%) are fully vaccinated. 

However, these figures exclude the additional 74,000 vaccines administered by pharmacies in recent weeks.

Supply is the “only constraint” to the rollout of the programme, adding that with the current supply lines, it is expected 80% of the adult population will be vaccinated by the end of August.

The online registration portal will open tomorrow for all individuals aged between 25 and 29 years old, with the cohort expected to be vaccinated in the following three to four weeks.

Registration for the AstraZeneca vaccine for people in their 20s will open on Monday, while registration for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for people aged between 18 and 24 is expected to open in late July.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has advised people who are unvaccinated, including children, to avoid high-risk uncontrolled indoor settings.

"That includes indoor hospitality," he added.