“Other patients needing emergency care will continue to attend emergency departments and while we will aim to care for everyone, the experience of colleagues in other countries and public health predictions indicate that demands on emergency departments will be enormous . She said those working in hospitals have come together to develop contingency plans to best manage the expected onslaught of sick patients infected with CoVid19 and their impact on the healthcare system. The emergency consultants have long flagged the lack of bed capacity, infrastructure and staffing in public emergency departments in Ireland and, even before this pandemic, delivering care in Ireland has often required heroic efforts, she added. The coming months will stretch us further and the public need to bear with us as we try to provide the best possible care in very trying circumstances. “We need to ensure they are supported as well as possible with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment, adequate staffing numbers and bed capacity on an on-going basis.”Online Editors

Source: Irish Independent March 17, 2020 10:18 UTC