The Irish Medical Organisation has cautioned that influenza has struck Ireland “fast and hard” and will place major additional pressure on an already overburdened hospital system.
Dr Peadar Gilligan, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin and a member of the IMO Consultant Committee, said the flu season has arrived earlier than expected and is rapidly increasing in the volume of patients attending GPs and Emergency Departments, reports RTE.
“There was a doubling of cases over the course of the last two weeks reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre,” he said, reports RTE.
“The number of people hospitalised with influenza is in excess of 500 currently and is projected to exceed 1,000 in the coming weeks,” reports RTE.
He noted that, in practical terms, this surge is equivalent to filling two large hospitals within a system already struggling with a severe shortage of beds.
“To date nine people have died from influenza in Ireland this flu season, all but one of whom were over 65 years of age,” he said, reports RTE.
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Dr Gilligan stated that the rise in patients requiring admission further exposes the chronic lack of hospital beds across the country.
He appealed to the public — especially those at higher risk — to receive the flu vaccine promptly and to minimise contact with others if symptoms such as a runny nose, cough, or fatigue appear, reports RTE.
He said: “Irish acute hospitals run at 97% to 110% occupancy due to inadequate capacity in the system to address the health care needs of our population. This allows for little or no capacity to deal with any increase in workload. Most Irish acute hospitals, even before the influenza season started, were utilising their surge capacity i.e. sitting in-patients in chairs, managing in-patients on trolleys in day wards, in endoscopy suites, in cardiology day wards, as extra patients on wards and on the corridors of Emergency Departments and wards. The rise in patient attendances to Emergency Departments and the associated increased numbers requiring admission to hospital leads to real challenges in providing safe care,” reports RTE.
He said: “If you have these symptoms and have to be in contact with others wear a mask, wash your hands regularly and limit the contact time. Not all patients with the flu need to seek medical attention. The symptoms tend to last for two weeks. Viruses do not respond to antibiotics and so the treatment is to keep well hydrated with oral fluids, treat the aches and pains with paracetamol and ibuprofen if you are not allergic to them. Consider seeking medical attention if you get the flu and are sick with it and are immunocompromised, have a respiratory condition, are obese or if you feel markedly short of breath or are unable to keep hydrated,” reports RTE.
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