Hospitals Remain Busy Despite Drop In Covid-19 Cases

SOME patient-facing health care workers employed in the UL Hospitals’ Group still haven’t received the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 earlier this week.

That’s according to assistant director of industrial relations, Mary Fogarty, who told The Clare Champion some health care staff are pleading with their managers to get the vaccine.

“This is a huge priority issue to protect people. It is a matter of concern for our members that they have not been prioritised and other employees have received the vaccine who are not patient-facing.”

She said there is now a HSE portal that should be able to prioritise patient-facing employees.

In a recent memo to public representatives, group chief executive officer, Professor Colette Cowan stated the group continue to issue as much vaccine as possible, in line with national guidance and based on availability of vaccines and clinical prioritisation.

“The group recognise the anxiety experienced by unvaccinated staff during the current surge in Covid-19 activity, and we will extend the vaccination programme to additional staff across the group as soon as the national vaccine delivery schedule allows.”

Growing concern about unvaccinated health care staff comes as official statistics show the 14-day incidence of the virus in the Banner has almost halved from 322% last week to 166% earlier this week, which is now the fifth lowest in the country.

Interestingly, the 14-day incidence rate in Tipperary at 203% is now higher than Clare but is much lower than Limerick, which stands at 317%.

According to figures produced by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, there were 198 new cases of Covid-19 in Clare, 619 in Limerick and 324 in Tipperary from January 26 to February 8.

The five-day moving average from February 4 to February 8 is 48 in Limerick, 12 in Clare and 14 in Tipperary.

The number of staff across the group that are unavailable for work due to Covid-19 has fallen from 367 to 246 over the last week.

There were 81 Covid-19 positive in-patients across the group on February 3, of which 63 were in University Hospital Limerick.

Despite the positive trend, Professor Cowan pointed out the group remains very busy and noted the reduction in Covid-19 positive in-patients doesn’t always translate to hospital discharges as many of them require ongoing care and rehabilitation in the hospital.

Senator Martin Conway told a Dáil health committee many INMO members in Clare were quite upset and annoyed about how the vaccine was rolled out in the Mid-West by comparison with other regions.

In the first allocation, he said 3,500 were allocated to the UL Hospitals’ Group compared to 19,000 in the South/ South West Hospital Group.

INMO general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha claimed the roll out was “haphazard” and wasn’t prioritised where the incidence rate in the community was highest.

“In week 53, there were 397.2 cases per 100,000 population, in Limerick there were 613 cases, in Louth there were 773 and in Monaghan there were 858 per 100,000, but those counties were not prioritised.”

 

Dan Danaher