Communities must “share the risk” of spreading viruses with hospitals over the coming weeks as patient discharges will be accelerated for Christmas, according to a senior HSE official.
Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry said there has been many viruses spreading throughout Ireland this winter, including RSV, COVID, and Influenza.
The raspatory virus RSV in particular had a large spike across Irish hospitals in recent weeks.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Dr Henry said that the worst of it has now passed.
“We’re seeing now that the peak is passing, thankfully, in terms of cases and hospitalisations,” he said.
“However, as we’ve learned in previous years, after the peak there is a long tail of pressures remaining in a hospital and cases remaining in communities.
“It’s not as if all new cases suddenly stop.”
Tough year
Dr Henry said it's been a tough year for the health service.
“This year is extraordinary as we’ve saw the highest level ever of RSV and of course that places huge pressure on GPs, primary care, and pediatric hospitals,” he said.
“But it's beginning to wane and it’s beginning to change course.”
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Dr Henry said viruses are easily transmitted this time of year.
“We’re going into a season now where people will be meeting up together socially, meeting up with families - and everything that goes with it,” he said.
“There are many more opportunities for viruses to transmit and we are particularly calling on people to get the vaccine if they can.”
Home for Christmas
Many patients will be leaving wards in the coming days to go home for Christmas.
“Every year patients leave the wards, that’s what they want to do," said Dr Henry.
“Patients don’t want to be in hospital they don’t want to be sick.
“Every year hospital teams work to accelerate quickly to get people home for Christmas because that is what people want.
“That is the effect of seeing an acceleration in the number of discharges leading up to Christmas.”
Shared risk
Dr Henry said risks of viruses will be spread between communities and whole hospitals this year.
“What we are doing this year is recognising that risk has traditionally been concentrated in emergency departments,” he said.
“That risk now has to be shared across the whole hospital and it has to be shared between hospitals and the community.”
He also noted trolley numbers were too high.
“It’s not a question of disputing that the levels on trollies are too high and that carries risk,” said Dr Henry.
Symptoms of an RSV infection start out like a cold and can include:
- Cough
- Wheezing
- Runny nose
- Difficulty feeding or decreased appetite
- Fever (temperature of 38C or higher)
- Sore throat
The symptoms usually appear in stages and not all at once.
Listen back now:
Main image: Sick woman with runny nose. Credit: Alamy.
