The UL Hospitals’ Group has appealed to patients attending the Emergency Department (ED) in University Hospital Limerick to bring medical information that will assist staff while HSE information technology (IT) systems are down following the cyber attack.
This includes any document or record such as the patient’s Medical Record Number (MRN) or Patient Chart Number (PCN). This information is usually on a sticker on hospital documentation, or on medications or prescriptions, or any hospital discharge information from a previous time spent in hospital.
Services across the Group continue to be adversely impacted by the cyber attack on HSE IT systems. This extends to widespread cancellations in scheduled care across six public hospitals including University Hospital Limerick (UHL), University Maternity Hospital Limerick,
Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, St John’s Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital.
All outpatient clinics are cancelled. This includes paediatric outpatient appointments.
All elective inpatient and day case procedures are cancelled. This is with the exception of time-critical cases and these patients will be called directly in advance.
All diagnostics including x-ray, CT scans, MRI appointments and cardiac investigations and endoscopy services are cancelled.
Maternity services including ante-natal clinic, dialysis treatment, cancer day ward for chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and the Acute Fracture Unit in UHL will continue to operate.
Vaccination centres at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Meelick, Treacy’s West County Hotel, Ennis and Abbey Court Hotel Nenagh are unaffected by the disruption.
The Emergency Department (ED) at UHL continues to operate 24-7 but is very busy. Members of the public are reminded to consider all care options – GP, GP out-of-hours, pharmacy, Local Injury Unit and only attend the ED in an emergency.
Non urgent patients may experience significant delays. Injury Units are operating in Ennis Hospital and Nenagh Hospital and are open from 8am to 8pm and St John’s Hospital from 8am to 7pm. The Maternity Emergency Unit is available 24-7 and the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit continues to operate an appointment only service.
Patients are advised to pay attention to updates as the group expect that services are likely to be further disrupted early next week.
Updates on service disruptions will be posted to the HSE Service Disruption Website https://www2.hse.ie/services/hospital-service-disruptions/hse-it-system-cyber-attack.html and on the following twitter accounts @ulhospitals and @hselive and we encourage patients to check on these sites for the most up to date information.
The group apologises to patients who are experiencing delays and disruptions to their service as a result of the cyber attack.
Dan Danaher
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.