Hospitalisation sees elderly patient lose her place in vaccine queue

An 89-year-old Connemara grandmother has been left waiting for her Covid-19 vaccine because of her admission to hospital – a situation which her family has slammed as ‘nonsensical’.

The woman’s daughter, who did not wish to be named, told the Connacht Tribune that, despite her mother being eligible for a vaccine for over three weeks, it was not possible to get the jab while an inpatient at University Hospital Galway.

While it was announced on Tuesday by HSE CEO Paul Reid that patients over 70 could now be vaccinated in hospital setting, her mother was still waiting.

“There is no sign of it yet. We were told that the policy had changed and told it would be rolled out this week, but it’s now being said that there’s an issue with supply.

“I just don’t understand it. If she had been in the community, she would have received her vaccine from her GP by now – if the vaccine was available to her GP, why can’t they get it in the hospital,” said the concerned daughter, whose mother was admitted to UHG after suffering a fall.

Hospitals were hotbeds for infection, she said, and her mother had already contracted a number of infections while in UHG.

“My mother has to be tested every 72 hours for Covid, which is intrusive and distressing. She has already had three hospital-acquired infections, thankfully not Covid, and that’s not the hospital’s fault.

“They’re very strict and none of us can go in to see her. But she’s on a geriatric orthopaedic ward where the patients are high-risk – my question would be how is that any different to a nursing home?” she continued.

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