News

UHW has the most Covid patients in Ireland today

UHW has the most Covid patients in Ireland today
Share this article

University Hospital Waterford has the highest volume of Covid patients in the country this morning.

There are currently 60 patients with the virus in UHW, however none of them are in Intensive Care.

General Manager, Grace Rothwell, has been speaking about the situation on Déise Today. 

"It certainly feels like this could well be our third wave," she said.

Advertisement

She said it has added to the pressure the hospital is under at the moment.

Currently, there are also 22 patients who have the flu.

Grace is appealing to people to be aware that the Emergency Department is only used for emergencies over the Christmas period.

As well as discussing coronavirus, Grace says there needs to be a focus now on cancer care.

Advertisement

Services that were moved off site during the pandemic, still have not been brought back into the hospital.

"We desperately need to bring back our staff, bring back our patients, and work on that," she said.

It's something she says she wants to see addressed in 2023 and says plans are ongoing in the background.

Grace would also like to see a dedicated cancer build for the hospital.

As much as cancer is the main focus, the hospital has more problems than just that.

"I very much doubt there's one specialty here in the hospital that would say, 'Actually, Grace, I have enough beds, enough staff, enough diagnostics.' We just simply don't," Grace said.

According to her, the list of resources that University Hospital Waterford needs just goes on and on.

She says bigger labs, more MRIs and more CTs, to name a few, are needed.

Despite these issues, the hospital had some positive news in recent days. 

According to HSE figures, UHW has not had a patient on a trolley in the Emergency Department since March of 2020.

Saturday marked the 1,000th day  without anybody waiting on trolleys in the ED.

For more Waterford news and sport, click here.

Share this article
Advertisement