Surgeries Cancelled Amid Latest COVID Surge

Hospitals are once again being forced to cancel elective surgeries as COVID hospitalisations rise.

Irish hospitals have reported a 29% rise in cases over the last week, with almost 1,400 patients currently in hospitals with COVID. Over 5,200 staff are currently absent with the virus.

HSE chief operations officer Anne O’Connor said that hospitals are once again struggling to cope with the pressure, with elective surgeries being cancelled in some cases.

Sligo, Kerry and Limerick were named as the counties most affected by the latest surge, but O'Connor said "We are seeing huge pressures all around the country. This is not just unique to hospitals. It is across the board."

"If you go to Limerick yesterday, they had serious problems with some specialties, where they had a consultant and some of their team out with Covid," she said. "If they are gone, and their team is gone with Covid, we can’t provide that service."

O'Connor said that contrary to the perception that we are exiting the pandemic, she currently knows "far more people with Covid than I ever have at the minute."

The government appears to have ruled out any reintroduction of restrictions with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar telling a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party last night that the chief medical officer told him there is no need for any further restrictions. Varadkar compared the effects of the current wave to that of a bad flu season.