Irish Examiner view: Remarkable response to danger

Wexford General Hospital fire

Damage to the roof at Wexford General Hospital after a fire forced an evacuation of the building on Wednesday. 

The work done through Wednesday and yesterday by the staff, emergency personnel, volunteers, and everyone else involved in the evacuation of Wexford General Hospital after a major fire there, was a heartening and — thankfully — successful operation.

Well-drilled staff executed the hospital’s emergency plan to a fault, firstly securing vulnerable patients, especially the young and those on ventilators when the building’s oxygen supply had to be switched off, and then identifying those that could be safely discharged temporarily and those who needed to be transferred to other hospitals.

These tasks were completed with a minimum of fuss and drama. 

Some 60 patients were discharged of the 207 that were in the building at the time of the fire. 

Twenty-nine others were deemed to be in a safe part of the hospital campus, while the rest were ferried by the National Ambulance Service to hospitals, in Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Navan, and Dublin, in what was a remarkable rescue effort.

The first patients to be evacuated were those in the intensive care, coronary, and maternity wards and included two women who had had their babies on Wednesday. 

A significant number of outpatient services — including oncology — were transferred to the Ely Hospital in Wexford Town.

With the scale of the damage last night being described as “small to medium” and predictions being made that Wexford General might be back up and running within two weeks, the fall-out from the fire seems remarkably small.

But, medical staff have warned that while the hospital might be operational again within a couple of days, it might take considerably longer to repatriate those patients who had to be transferred to other hospitals across Munster and Leinster.

With no one having been hurt or injured in the evacuation, the “war-like” effort needed to secure the safety of both patients and staff was remarkable and, as a nation, we should be grateful to everyone who put their shoulder to the wheel and pulled off a remarkable response in the face of great danger.