{"id":23814,"date":"2021-11-04T14:19:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T18:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23814"},"modified":"2021-11-05T10:22:29","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T14:22:29","slug":"hse-boss-says-almost-a-third-of-intensive-care-beds-taken-up-with-covid-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23814","title":{"rendered":"HSE Boss Says Almost A Third Of Intensive Care Beds Taken Up With Covid Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid (PA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A further 3,024 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the Republic, the National Public Health Emergency Team has confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 458 Covid-positive people in hospital, including 90 in intensive care units and 250 receiving advanced respiratory support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes as the chief executive of the HSE, Paul Reid, told a briefing on Thursday that the daily increasing levels of Covid is causing \u201csignificant and unrelenting pressure\u201d on the health system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said almost a third of intensive care beds are being taken up with Covid patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of those in hospital (39 per cent) are aged between 65-79 years, meanwhile just over half (52 per cent) of those in intensive care have not received the vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While hospitals are \u201ccoping\u201d, Mr Reid said, they are not able to do the elective cases they would like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are at a level of transmission in the community that has forced many aspects of our response of our healthcare system overall into surge responses where we are dealing with a very disproportionate set of demands across the boards whether that\u2019s in our general practice, testing and tracing system overall, our public health teams responding, our hospitals and ICU and right now our compliance checks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outlining the impact the demands across the health service are having, he said 3,500 staff are out of work through Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is putting a huge pressure on our staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe actions of the health service alone won\u2019t get us out of this current situation, if cases continue to rise there comes a point when no additional testing and tracing, or vaccination or hospital beds or ICU will help to turn the tide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid urged a range of actions by the public to help turn the tide, including to get vaccinated, follow public health messages such as social distancing, wearing face coverings and staying at home if you have symptoms of the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA plea from the HSE is we believe these will work and we believe this will help us turn it around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he said than neither he or the HSE are calling for the further public health restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HSE chief operation officer Anne O\u2019Connor outlined emergency department attendance figures as being up 21 per cent from last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She described a \u201cvery busy system\u201d with \u201cno real geographical differences\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid also said it was \u201cnever too late\u201d to come forward for the Covid vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He insisted there is no judgment and the health service remains available to support people coming forward for the jab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor those who remain unvaccinated, we remain available to answer any queries, to answer any of your concerns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe continue to see more and more people come forward for the first vaccination, we\u2019re seeing on average about 1,800 people a day still coming forward to register, and everybody who is unvaccinated should take encouragement from that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never too late, nobody is judging anybody in terms of when or how they come through for vaccination, we\u2019re there to support people and make them feel comfortable in coming forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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