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LAST UPDATE | 10 Jan 2021
HSE CHIEF PAUL Reid has said that capacity in private hospitals have begun to take urgent non-Covid care, as a “surge capacity” agreement was finalised over the weekend.
It comes as the number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 rose to 1,421 today – 136 further admissions since yesterday – with the 121 of that number in intensive care units (ICU).
Speaking to RTÉ’s This Week, Reid said: “Already this week, private hospitals are taking some urgent non-Covid care… We have in essence triggered those processes already.”
An agreement was finalised between the HSE and 15 private hospitals this weekend to provide additional capacity if necessary during the next 12 months.
Discussions are ongoing with the Beacon Hospital over the weekend, Reid said.
Reid said that by early this week there would likely be double the number of people with Covid-19 in hospital now than there was at the peak of of last year, when 881 Covid patients were hospitalised.
“Our health system is under increasing strain. The best support we can all now give, is to avoid getting sick with Covid. This will help to get us out the other side of this.”
Reid also told RTÉ Radio that the normal winter trolley surge has not been as severe as in previous years; there are 130 people on trolleys today, compared to over 400 people on the same day last year.
He said that some elective care have been paused, but that urgent care such as cancer or cardio care is continuing.
Yesterday, 1,285 people with Covid-19 were in hospital, of which 107 were in ICU. There were 116 further hospital admissions in the previous 24 hours.
Dr Colm Henry of the HSE said that the numbers haven’t peaked yet, saying that there are 37 available ICU beds at the moment – plus 11 paediatric beds.
There are a total of 286 ICU beds; a further 16 ICU beds are being brought in between this and next month. There are around seven nurses needed per ICU bed.
He said that they have lost capacity in hospitals due to some healthcare staff having to self-isolate or restrict their movements.
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has been increasing to the highest numbers since the pandemic began. The past few days have represented record high numbers of people being treated in Irish hospitals for Covid-19.
Due to the way the virus attacks, there can be a delay between the time when someone contracts Covid-19, and when they are admitted to hospital, as the disease can get progressively worse. Some people need to be hospitalised for weeks before they recover.
On Thursday, hospitalisation figures topped 1,000 for the first time during the pandemic. HSE CEO Paul Reid described it as a “sad milestone”.
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Piece of shit coward. Sits in his car, shoots from his car, does a legger in his car and when he was low on fuel he pulls into a petrol station.
Happens every day in parts of America, and you don’t hear of it because the majority of them are black
Supernova – are you saying black people commit the most shootings or reports aren’t newsworthy because it’s a picture we’ve seen thousands of times?
Most of the victims are black actually but does the race matter? A crime is a crime is a crime.
This is being portrayed as a mad man shooting but it seems like more of a gangland style deal.
Drivebys happen a lot in the US. There were 733 in 2014 alone with 154 deaths.
Yeah but I’m saying if the individual was black I don’t think it would have been a big a news story I’m afraid. If a white man gets killed all hell breaks loose.
Hang on, are you saying when a black man gets killed all hell *doesn’t* break loose?
Have you been watching the news coming out of the states for the last year or so?
I dunno how this has gone international? what about all the drive bys that happen in Compton?
If it was in America this happened you would have quadruple the comments on this story.
…and blaming the NRA.
You’d have quadruple the comments if it was the US because it happens every other week in the US, often happens to kids, and it’s once in a blue moon in other countries. The last one in Germany was 2010, we’ve had a dozen HUGE ones in the US since then.
Perfectly fair game to blame the NRA since they are the second most powerful lobby group in the US, and oppose even moderate gun regulations like preventing civilians from owning military grade weapons, and preventing people from the terrorist watch list or the mentally ill buying guns. You’ll notice we, who have one of the top 5 most conservative gun regs in the world, have never had a mass shooting, and the UK has not had one since the 70s when it adopted very similar rules.
Saadi news but why is it being reported here? We have shootings all the time between rival gangs, does that make news in Germany or is there something more to this?
hopefully it was Enda and Angela
Idiot of the highest order!
Tis an ill wind that blows through Bad Windsheim this morning.
when will the killing end. we need to get rid of guns altogether.
No, don’t be ridiculous. Then Billy the Kid and the ‘Hole in the Ground Gang’, not to mention the most evil German of all time, Kaiser Wilhelm II, will have a free reign.
his getaway car low on fuel. not very Mr Brooks was he.
So so sad. This senseless violence needs to stop.
Kaiser Wilhelm II was quite a decent guy. Just a bit egotistical I suppose. Britain vilified him in the Great War for propaganda purposes, that’s all.
@Ashley Brown. He also must have thought of other’s welfare as well,, for he brought in the first European pension and welfare programs,albeit at the behest of Chancellor Otto Von Bismark, without which we might still be fighting for them even now.
—”Social programs in Germany began in the 1880s.
“In November 1881, at the direction of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm I, issued a decree stating, “those who are disabled from work by age and invalidity have a well-grounded claim to care from the state.”
have your say