Hospital procedures to be postponed for thousands of people again

The call from the HSE includes a 14-day “period of prioritisation” on Covid-19 and “urgent time-sensitive work”, Mr Reid states. Picture: Leah Farrell / Photocall Ireland

The HSE has written to the health services saying a two-week focus on Covid-19 and “time-sensitive” treatment is now needed, meaning elective procedures will be postponed for thousands of people again.

The letter, sent by the head of the HSE Paul Reid on Tuesday, says there is “a number of immediate actions” hospitals and community healthcare services need to take to address the pressures caused by the rising number of Covid cases.

The letter says: “The sharp escalation in cases has placed healthcare systems under great pressure, both from the impact of cases being hospitalised and from staff shortages related to Covid-19 infection or contact.” 

The seven actions called for include a 14-day “period of prioritisation” on Covid-19 and “urgent time-sensitive work”, Mr Reid states. 

This means services, including acute mental health care, emergency response in residential services and safe-guarding, will be protected.

The letter says “staff must be redeployed” to ensure these services continue and warns this means “even where this results in curtailment of work that is not time-sensitive.” 

All services must “maximize” the staff derogation rules, the letter states, referring to the possibility of exempting staff from Covid-isolation rules where safe to do so.

The SafetyNet agreement between the HSE and private hospitals must be also maximised, so some patients can be transferred for their care into private settings. The letter states this should include use of ICU beds in private hospitals.

Both hospitals and community services are urged to increase the availability of respite beds and community beds to keep people out of hospitals where possible and ensure patients ready to be discharged are quickly moved out.

Mr Reid also urged hospitals to keep their focus on having a surge capacity in the ICUs, which indicates the HSE is expecting a further rise in people severely ill with Covid-19.

“Trends from other healthcare systems in Europe demonstrate case numbers greatly in excess of those experienced in January 2021 as well as rising hospitalisations and staff shortages,” he warned.

Mr Reid also stressed the importance of maintaining the Covid-19 vaccination and testing programmes in parallel with this work.

Meanwhile, the country's testing system remains under significant strain, with PCR tests unavailable at many sites around the country.

According to the Covid-19 GeoHive, of the 35,402 swabs administered yesterday, 20,154 returned a positive test result - a positivity rate of 59.3%. 

The seven-day positivity rate is now estimated to be 50.3%.

20154 positive swabs, 56.93% positivity on 35,402 tests.
7 day test positivity is 50.3%.

- Tuesday, January 4th 2022#COVID19Ireland pic.twitter.com/IABcR9pF1P

— COVID-19 Data Ireland (@COVID19DataIE) January 4, 2022