All set for the surge

The heroes of Galway’s health system are redoubling preparation efforts for the expected ‘Covid-19 surge’ by adding new beds, more staff and life-saving ventilators to treat more virus-hit patients.

And while doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers are ‘flat out’ on the frontline saving lives, their colleagues in several state agencies and organisations have joined forces to ramp-up testing for coronavirus at new centres across the city and county to clear a backlog of tests.

The head of Galway’s public hospitals group, Saolta, has moved to assure the public that the system locally is coping with increased presentations and admissions of Covid19 patients – and ‘escalation’ plans involving the city’s two private hospitals are at an advanced stage.

Dr Pat Nash, Chief Clinical Director of the Saolta Group and consultant cardiologist at Galway University Hospital, also praised front-line staff in the local health system, and he urged the public to reduce social contacts to slow the rate of transmission so ‘we can manage the expected surge’.

He said UHG would take the bulk of Galway’s Covid-19 cases and so far has sufficient capacity but is being reconfigured to add extra beds and Intensive Care Unit facilities. If UHG reaches capacity, the secondary escalation plan is to use Merlin Park and Galway’s two private hospitals, Bons Secours and Galway Clinic.

Only essential surgeries, such as emergencies, cancer, or heart disease such as bypasses, are taking place at Portiuncula in Ballinasloe and UHG.

See full story – and 18 pages on Galway’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic – in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops today. You can also buy a digital edition online from www.connachttribune.ie or have a paper included with your supermarket shop delivery.