The Health Service Executive has said that a significant volume of presentations is occurring in emergency rooms “due to ongoing high illness rates related to winter viruses”.
The public is being asked to weigh “all care options” before visiting emergency rooms.
In a statement, the HSE’s Chief Operations Officer Damien McCallion said: “Many of our Emergency Departments are extremely busy this weekend. While we have seen a dip in numbers of Covid-19 and flu from the January peak, there are still high levels of respiratory illness circulating and impacting our hospitals,” reports RTE.
“Those who believe they may be seriously ill and require emergency care should come to the hospital, but we would ask others who are not seriously ill, to consider seeking support from pharmacists, GPs, GP Out of Hours Services and Injury Units,” reports RTE.
He added: “A number of surge measures have been put in place as part of the HSE Urgent and Emergency Care Plan to reduce the number of patients waiting on trolleys for an acute bed and reduce the number of patients over the age of 75 waiting in emergency departments after a decision has been made to admit them for ongoing care and treatment,” reports RTE.
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