Staff working with older people most affected as covid-19 'trends upwards', says HSE

Across all HSE staff, 5.3% of absences for May were linked to covid-19 with this higher for nurses and midwives at 6.3%.

The number of hospital patients with covid-19 is “trending upwards” again, the HSE has warned as new figures show staff working with older people are most affected by the virus.

Up to the end of June there was an increase of 16% among hospital patients affected and the HSE said this reflected an increase of 103% over the last 14 days. The main reason patients were admitted to ICU (intensive care units) is covid-19 at 23% of those patients. 

“The number of covid-19 cases hospitalised is trending upward,” a spokeswoman said. While staff absences linked to covid-19 are significantly down on the pandemic years, concerns remain in sectors. 

Across all staff 5.3% of absences for May, the latest data available, were linked to covid-19 with this higher for nurses and midwives at 6.3%. The data also shows 7.3% of people working with older patients were out for covid reasons, noticeably higher than other groups.

It compares, for example, to 3.5% of absences among disability staff linked to this virus and is also higher than among hospital staff where 5.9% of their absences were linked to covid.

This is reflected in case numbers among people aged over 65 years which have seen a sharp spike since the end of May. Just last week there were 523 new cases identified among this age group, compared to 177 during the last week of May.

This is more than half the number of all new cases last week which stood at 981. Anecdotally it is believed case numbers are likely higher than this as many people with milder symptoms treat themselves at home.

Visiting restrictions

Some hospitals now have restrictions on visiting or have had to close wards due to covid-19 or norovirus outbreaks. Any restrictions are "reviewed daily” with exceptions in compassionate cases where appropriate, the spokeswoman said.

At Bantry hospital only one visitor is allowed in with times restricted to 2pm to 4pm and again from 6pm to 8pm due to covid outbreaks.

At the Mercy University Hospital masks are required at all times and visits cannot be longer than 30 minutes.

At University Hospital Limerick visiting restrictions remain in place in the Emergency Department, Acute Surgical Assessment Unit, and Acute Medical Assessment Unit.

Concerns were raised during the pandemic by the Irish Association of Social Workers about the negative impact on patients of not having regular visitors.