Call for additional public health measures as Covid hospitalisations jump 347%
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said hospitals have just 'emerged from the worst June for hospital overcrowding on record coupled with sharp increases in Covid cases'. Picture: iStock
Covid hospitalisations have jumped by 347% — from 198 to 885 — between May 29 and July 4.
That is according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), with the union calling for additional public health measures due to the impact rising cases are having on hospitals.
INMO president Karen McGowan said the pressure all nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers are under at the moment was unsustainable. She said the rate of rising infections in hospitals was extremely worrying.
“The INMO Executive today have taken the decision to call on the interim chief medical officer and the HSE's chief clinical officer to advise Government and the HSE on additional measures that can be taken to alleviate the pressure that is on the health system."
Ms McGowan has asked for the reintroduction of immediate Covid screening upon arrival of patients to emergency departments (EDs), strengthening advice around mask-wearing, a second booster for healthcare workers and improved ventilation in healthcare settings.
"As an INMO Executive, we know anecdotally that Covid is seriously impacting our rosters but as the HSE no longer publish the levels of healthcare workers infected with Covid by profession, this makes it impossible to know the exact scale of the problem.
"We cannot adequately plan for what Covid might look like in our hospitals at what is traditionally the busiest period of the year (November, December, January) if we don’t know the scale of the problem now during an abnormally busy time."
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said hospitals have just "emerged from the worst June for hospital overcrowding on record coupled with sharp increases in Covid cases".
She said hospitals were "a wholly unsafe environment" for workers at the moment, which is having implications for patient safety.
"While we understand that legislation is currently being prepared to legally underpin advice on mask-wearing, we cannot wait for the Oireachtas to pass legislation in the autumn.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha added that mask-wearing in indoor and congregated settings must be introduced alongside a strong public health campaign.
“It is unfathomable to us as nurses that as Covid hospitalisations are on a sharp increase, immediate screening upon arrival to our EDs has ceased. Without screening upon arrival, we do not know the true scale of cases within our hospital system.
"All 29 emergency departments that nurses are currently working in are completely unsafe and overcrowded environments and not knowing the scale of Covid in our EDs is only making the situation worse. Screening upon arrival must be reintroduced for those presenting to EDs and same-day admissions for elective care.
“It has been nine months since healthcare workers first received their Covid booster vaccine. We believe that it is time for the National Immunisation Advisory Committee [Niac] to recommend that patient-facing healthcare workers be provided with an appropriate second booster. We believe this is a decision that should be made swiftly," she said.
The vast majority of Covid outbreaks are now occurring in healthcare settings, Ms Ní Sheaghdha added, so ensuring proper air quality would go a long way to increasing the safety of workers and patients.
It comes as new figures revealed that almost 4,000 people have received illness benefit for long Covid, having received Covid-related enhanced benefit for at least 10 weeks prior.
Illness benefit is paid in varying amounts to private and self-employed workers based on PRSI stamps for up to two years.
Some 3,783 long Covid sufferers have needed this, out of 478,485 people who received a shorter-term work-related Covid-19 payment, enhanced illness benefit (EIB), for up to 10 weeks or, in some cases, more.
