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A GROUP OF medical researchers say the government should issue a warning about the dangers of DIY after a rise in domestic-related injuries during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The recommendation was made as part of a new study, published this month in the British journal Bone and Joint Open.
It looked at patients who presented to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown with traumatic injuries during the first month of the nationwide lockdown.
The researchers found that although the overall number of trauma presentations to the hospital compared with the same period last year, the number of domestic injuries rose.
They specifically noted that the number of people who reported falling from ladders tripled year-on-year, saying “specific warnings” about the dangers of DIY during lockdown, and in particular ladder safety, should be considered.
“While the goal of this lockdown was to curtail the spread of this deadly pandemic, it appears to have had knock-on effects on the incidence of traumatic injuries in Ireland,” the authors said.
The study aimed to quantify the overall impact of the Covid-19 restrictions on trauma presentations to a general hospital in Ireland.
It followed similar research from New Zealand and the UK, which showed similar falls in the number of trauma cases presenting during lockdowns in those countries.
The researchers compared all presentations to the emergency department at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin between 27 March and 27 April and the same period in 2019.
They chose 27 March as the start date because it was the beginning of the nationwide lockdown aimed at “flattening the curve”.
The study found that a total of 136 patients presented to the hospital’s emergency department with traumatic injuries during the first month of lockdown.
Overall, this was a 22% decrease on the figure for the same period last year.
There was also a 62% reduction in sports-related injuries, a 60% fall in injuries relating to traffic accidents, a 43% drop in assault-related injuries, and a 20% decrease in injuries due to blunt trauma.
Although there was almost no change in the number of people over the age of 65 who presented to the hospital with a traumatic injury, the number of people aged between 16 and 64 fell by almost a third (31%).
And the number of people injured on public roads and other public spaces, as well as in public buildings and workplaces, all fell when compared with the same period in 2019.
Possible redeployment of doctors
However, the authors noted a 17% increase in the number of patients who sustained trauma because of domestic accidents compared to last year.
The number of people who were injured after falling down stairs more than doubled from five to 11, while the number of those who fell from a height of more than 2 metres rose by 70% from 3 to 10.
The authors specifically noted that reports of falls from ladders at home tripled, although they said the results were not particularly significant due to the small numbers involved.
Discussing their findings, the researchers claimed the study had important public health implications.
“While instituting a national lockdown has predictably led to a decrease in trauma among the more mobile under 65 years population, trauma rates among the elderly remain unchanged and rates of domestic injuries have increased,” they wrote.
They called for the government to emphasise the preventable nature of falls and to aim to reduce the rate of falls among the elderly in the coming months.
They said that doing so would reduce the strain on the health system if future lockdowns were required.
And they also suggested that the overall fall in trauma admissions during lockdown could allow some orthopaedic doctors to be temporarily redeployed to areas of higher demand if the need arose again.
“This paper could have important implications at both a local and national level, and allow for appropriate division of resources and planning of trauma services over the coming months and into the future if further lockdowns are required,” they concluded.
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Good on ye! Someone has to do something and yet again it’s nurses. My mum was dying in ICU when we had the last nurses strike in 2019 and in spite of wanting the best for my mum I absolutely supported the nurses then and I will now. They were quite simply angels who helped us through the toughest of times and gave my dear mum what little dignity they could in her final days.
I went into limerick hospital on a Friday late evening with chest pains about two years, the A&E doctor was fairly sure it was muscular after a few tests. Saturday I felt fine and wanted to be discharged, the doctor said he needed the cardiac consultant to see me but he wouldn’t be in till Monday morning. 5pm Monday I was discharged. If there was a cardiac consultant on over the weekend, I could have been gone home Saturday instead off occupying a bed for an extra two nights. Bad management all around, support the nurses but everyone know it’s management is the issue
@Patrick O Connell: the lawyers kept you in for 2 nights
I wonder will they call off any industrial action when a few of their members get some middle management posts (which will then create more paperwork for the staff on the wards) like they did the last time they striked.
Typical contribution from this so called leader. Just how constructive is a call for strike ballot right now. Typical – all bluster and offers nothing in the way of constructive solution. But wait – a 10% salary increase will cure all her ills. Meanwhile the rest of can whistle dixie.
Threatening to go on strike so they can get more money.. Typical while patients of all ages are the ones who have to spend hours in A and E waiting to be seen. Dumped on trollies or chairs and after been seen left with a bill unless you have a medical card.
@Just Some Guy: if this is what you think it’s about, you need to put down the FFFG branded cool-aid .
@Just Some Guy: Read the articles. They’re as stressed over the overcrowding and understaffing as anyone else – unlike the patients and voters, they’re doing something to change this ridiculous scenario where every year hundreds of sick people are stuck in corridors. Ireland needs thousands more bed spaces And the staff to give them the healthcare they all deserve. Good for the staff who aren’t being fobbed off with annual excuses. They’re the very people who have been warning the people of Ireland that this is not only happening again but getting worse.
@Just Some Guy: Jesus, Varadkar, Martin, Donnelly will be delighted with you for that comment. Wonder why you didn’t blame Doctors ,Nurses, and the staff working themselves to the bone for being responsible for the chaos in the Health service. Bit ironic you failed to mention it was FFG policy the created this mess. Of course that would not suit your agenda…
@Donal Desmond: we have Dave the Ra shouting at anyone that will listen that our health system is terrible and yet his comrade Martina Anderson telling anyone who listen in the North that we have a Dar superior health service.
@Patrick O Connell: Perhaps it has escaped your attention that SF is not in government in the South. You conveniently fail to mention it is FFG who between them have governed this state since it’s foundation. Yet you blame the opposition for the catastrophic health service. As for the North there has been no Government in place since the DUP threw their rattler out of the pram.
@Just Some Guy: did you even read the article? It’s not about money it’s about staffing levels and overcrowding. Nothing will change anyway but at least they are highlighting it
@Just Some Guy: Nurse’s are not going on strike over pay they are going on strike over Patient safety no Nurse’s no beds and no support, have you worked a 12hr shift with no break???
If a disaster like the Stardust were to take place, what would happen? It doesn’t bear thinking about
This is worse than it has ever been….our daughter is a palliative nurse and is trying to treat cancer patients on a trolley in A and E…this is beyond disgusting….get Leo and the other ministers in and see for them selves what it is like…something needs to be done
@Linda Oreilly: Leo knows exactly what it’s like. He was originally a doctor in Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. Martin was previously a health minister. They know precisely what’s wrong but chose to do nothing about it because it doesn’t directly affect them.
@Eddie Feeney: they’ll just ride out this storm besides actually doing something ie actually do a bit of work. But they will give themselves a couple more Pay rises that you can be assured of.
Who knows, maybe these guys are playing the long con so, leave the country in such a state of disarray that when SF do take the hot seat things will be so bad people will just blame them then the current bunch will be back in power before they know it.
Toothless Union,
Fix the health system, end of, as the English say.
When it comes to nurses, it is difficult to be critical, even constructively, because everyone reverts to the emotional arguments to push their point and in so many ways we are so grateful to them.
That said, a lot of the working conditions incl trollies is largely down to nurses unions. They are the frontline. These problems did not develop overnight. Their unions threaten strikes over pay but claim it is all about ‘ patient safety’, yet when have we heard them threaten to go out on strike because of trollies, understaffed/ under equipped services which has been going on for years and only gets worse. 24hr healthcare i e. The likes of MRI scanners etc etc etc being made available. But probably as important, we have seen the decline in nurse morale, nurse numbers and conditions to a frightening level for all which begs the question as to what their unions are doing to protect the profession and patients. So why not use your political influence and threaten to withdraw your services in order to protect patients and profession as often as ye do for money, then we would all be better off. Personally I believe nurses deserve greater pay and conditions and an liveable ‘ Dublin housing allowance’
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