No trollies but very little space in Portlaoise hospital

Frontline staff at Portlaoise hospital have cleared the decks of trollies but space for new admissions remains at a premium with very little space for patients from Laois and surrounding hospitals.

That's according to the latest figures published by nurses and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO)HSE for January 4 and 5.

Just days after there were 12 patients awaiting admission on trollies in the Emergency Department (ED/A&E), the INMO reported that no trollies were deployed on the morning of January 5 at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise.

The daily trolley watch report also confirmed that there were none in use at the Laois hospital's sister facility in Tullamore. Both are in the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group which includes Naas General. The INMO figures reveal that it continues to be badly hit with 22 trollies in use -  18 in A&E and four on wards.

Nationally, the pressure has eased somewhat with 639 admitted patients are waiting for beds this morning. The INMO Trolley Watch report said 473 patients are waiting in the emergency department, while 166 are in wards elsewhere in the hospital. There were nearly 1,000 waiting beds on January 3.

An insight on the continued shortage of space is revealed in the daily Covid-19 reports published by HSE for hospitals around Ireland.

By 8pm on January 4 there were six Covid-19 positive patients at Portlaoise hospital. This is also a decrease from just after increase when coronavirus cases were in double figures at the Laois facility. Unfortunately, one of the six patients is critically ill with Covid-19.

The HSE virus report also shows bed availability at hospitals around Ireland. It confirms that pressure for space remains high. There were just two general beds available for staff on the morning of January 4 in Portlaoise.  The Laois hospital had no free ICU or HDU beds on Wednesday morning.

The Covid-19 situation is more acute at its partner hospitals. There were 14 Covid positive patients in the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore on January 4. Of these, one was critically ill. The Offaly hospital had no free general or ICU beds on Wednesday morning.

As for Naas General, it had one of the highest numbers of Covid cases in beds outside the big city hospitals. A total of 24 patients had tested positive for the virus by 8pm on Wednesday. Of these, two were critically ill.

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As for beds, the Kildare hospital had no available general beds or ICU beds on  Wednesday morning.

Nationally, there were 626 people with Covid-19 admitted to hospitals around Ireland by 8pm on January 4. There were 25 patients with the virus in ICU. 

Th COVID-19 Daily Operations Update prepared by the HSE's Acute Hospitals Performance Management and Improvement Unit at 8pm on January 4 showed that were just 23 beds available nationwide early on Wednesday morning. Just four adult intensive care beds and one paediatric ICU bed was available the morning of January 4.