Tag Archives: Dr Yvonne Williams

HOSPITAL waiting lists look set to increase significantly again following the cancellation of the majority of scheduled surgery and outpatient appointments in public acute facilities amid concern from a local senator Covid-19 is spreading in Clare like “wildfire”. UL Hospitals’ Group has confirmed the deferral, until further notice, of the majority of scheduled surgery and outpatient appointments across the group. This includes University Hospital Limerick, Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, St John’s Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. University Maternity Hospital Limerick is unaffected by the reductions. The number of Clare and Mid-West public in-patient and day case waiting lists soared from 4,198 in January 2020 to 6,612 last November, while the numbers on outpatients’ lists jumped dramatically from 47,134 to 55,088 during the same period. There has been an increase of almost 3,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Mid-West from December 19 to January 3. According to official statistics, the number of positive cases in Clare jumped from 1,546 to 2,135; …

AS CLARE’S Covid-19 infection rate continues to rise, a busy family doctor has warned that many people, who should be self-isolating, in line with public health advice, are failing to do so and putting others at risk. Dr Yvonne Williams from Shannon said she was concerned that people who should be restricting their movements, while they have potential symptoms, are not listening to the advice of their GPs or the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). ‘What I am finding is that people are still going out and about with coughs and other possible symptoms,” she said. “The truth is that you can’t say that something is just a sinus infection, or just a chest infection or a just a sore throat until you have a negative Covid-19 test. If you are unwell in any way, we have to treat that as Covid until it is proven otherwise.” Dr Williams also expressed concerns over turnaround times for tests which she …

A SHANNON GP has hit out the handling of circumstances around the health minister’s Covid-19 test last Tuesday the day it unveiled the new roadmap for living with the virus. Dr Yvonne Williams said that misunderstanding over who should isolate while a contact of theirs is awaiting a test result, smacked of “chaos and confusion”. “The advice is that while someone is awaiting results of a test, their household should restrict their movements,” she explained. “If someone has a positive test, then their contacts are advised to isolate.” On Tuesday, shortly after addressing a press conference on the Living with Covid-19 plan, Minister Stephen Donnelly felt unwell and contacted his GP to arrange a coronavirus test. Following that news, the cabinet, as well as Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn, were told to restrict their movements as a precaution. The Dáil was then adjourned, at first for a period of one week, before being reconvened later on Tuesday evening. …

PRESSURE will increase on already stretched GP-services as a flu vaccination scheme is extended from the middle of next month. While the move to offer free vaccination to children aged between two and 12 has been welcomed in a bid to avoid a second wave of Covid-19 coinciding with an upsurge in flu, concerns have been voiced about the knock-on impact on other services. “If, as we expect, over half a million children are to get flu vaccinations from mid-October, that will mean that hundreds of thousands of appointments will be taken up,” she noted. “Children will have to be Covid-screened before vaccination and monitored afterwards. There is no way that this won’t have a knock-on effect. People will have to wait long for other services and we’d ask them to remember that this for the common good. Children rarely get very sick with flu and this measure is part of a plan to protect older and more vulnerable people …

A SHANNON- based doctor has launched a High Court action against the HSE’s arising out of its plans to provide free GP services to children under six years of age. In what is regarded as an important test action, Dr Yvonne Williams wants the introduction of the new scheme postponed until her representative body, the National Association of General Practioners (NAGP), has an opportunity to negotiate the scheme on behalf of its members. It is claimed the proposed scheme, which is due to come into effect in July, to provide free health care to all children under the age of six years will result in changes to Dr William’s General Medical Services (GMS) contract with the HSE. The GMS contract is the agreement between GPs and the HSE for the delivery of primary care services to medical card holders. She claims the changes to her GMS contract are being imposed on her unilaterally. She also says the exclusion of the …