Inpatient and day surgery restrictions continue at LUH

Saolta has confirmed that all but very urgent and time critical inpatient and day surgery continues to be curtailed in Letterkenny University Hospital.
The restrictions were brought in earlier this month but in a statement the hospital group says; in light of very significant pressure in the hospital caused by COVID-19 and high community infection rates, it is now necessary to continue the current restrictions to ensure patient safety and wellbeing.
The deferrals are in place for a further two weeks and will be kept under review.
Outpatient clinics will also be restricted however some of these will take place virtually unless it is absolutely necessary for patients to be seen.
Seán Murphy, Hospital Manager at LUH says the impact of a surge of cases in the community will be reflected in hospital admissions over the coming days.
As of 8pm yesterday evening there were 102 patients in the hospital with COVID-19 and five patients requiring Critical Care.
Visiting restrictions remain in place at the hospital and as the hospital continues to be extremely busy, people are again being urged to only attend the Emergency Department in the case of emergencies.
Statement in full:
In early January all but very urgent and time critical inpatient and day surgery was curtailed in Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH). In light of very significant pressure in the hospital caused by COVID-19 and high community infection rates, it is now necessary to continue the current restrictions to ensure patient safety and wellbeing. The deferrals are in place for a further two week period and will be kept under review.
Outpatient clinics will also be restricted however some of these will take place virtually unless it is absolutely necessary for patients to be seen.
Commenting Seán Murphy, Hospital Manager at LUH said, “We understand that these deferrals may be disappointing and frustrating for patients but this is an important measure to enable the hospital to maintain critical and emergency services. There are many very sick people in Letterkenny University Hospital and the impact of a surge of cases in the community will be reflected in hospital admissions over the coming days. As of 8pm yesterday evening there were 102 patients in LUH with COVID-19 and five patients requiring Critical Care.
“A small number of procedures where patients require time critical or urgent cancer care will proceed as scheduled. Patients will be notified directly if their appointment is being deferred, we apologise for the inconvenience this may cause, please bear with us as we all hold firm.
“Visiting restrictions remain in place at the hospital. Members of the public should not visit the hospital except on compassionate grounds and these visits must be arranged in advance with the nurse manager on the ward.
“Letterkenny University Hospital continues to be extremely busy, the public are reminded to only attend the Emergency Department in case of emergencies. Please contact your GP during normal surgery hours or the NoWDOC GP out of hours service if your health problem is not an emergency.”