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The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called for all elective care to be cancelled until the end of January because of pressures on the system from rising Covid case numbers.
More than 6,000 healthcare staff are on coronavirus-related leave as hospitals brace themselves for a sharp rise in patients infected with the disease this week.
A sharp rise in patients with Covid in hospitals was reported on Monday with 804 in hospital, an increase of 87, of whom 93 are in ICU, an increase of six. The Department of Health also reported 16,986 new cases of Covid-19 although these figures are “provisional” due to the high incidence of the disease.
In other sectors Covid-related absences are causing problems with the chief executive of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) warning on Monday that it may put pressure on the critical supply chain.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha on Monday warned that the system in hospitals at present was “very serious”. Staff were “very stretched” and their working environment was “very difficult” as it usually was at this time of year, but some hospitals were regularly being overwhelmed. The absence of staff due to infection or being close contacts was also adding pressure and leading to “a perfect storm” she said.
Staffing levels in intensive care units in particular were under pressure, she said and as a result “very sick patients” were being treated on the wards. Staff in hospitals were very nervous, added Ms Ní Sheaghdha.
Elective care must be canceled, she said given the current situation, at least until the end of January. Nurses were doing their best in difficult circumstances, but the pressures were taking their toll. Many had canceled leave and returned to work, but some were exhausted. Their fear was that they were not being supported.
They were expected to act professionally, but could not do that to the best of their ability in circumstances that were outside their control, she said.
It comes as new rules on quarantine periods and the use of rapid antigen tests come into force today, designed to ease the pressure on the overwhelmed PCR testing system and allow for more staff to return to work following Covid-related absences.
From today, those aged four to 39 are being advised to self-isolate if they test positive on an antigen test, and to seek a confirmatory PCR test. An antigen test will now be accepted for receipt of enhanced illness benefit, which up to now required a PCR test.
Earlier on Monday Ibec chief executive of Ibec Danny McCoy has warned of the pressure on the critical supply chain as a result of the high levels of staff being absent from the workforce because of the Omicron variant.
The proportions of staff absent from work in the food manufacturing and the retail distribution sectors were 15 to 18 percent, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. “That’s of the businesses that are open and that we know about.”
Given the current level of cases and because of the current isolation period of 10 days, the numbers of staff absent from work was likely to keep building, he said.
“It looks like for every one positive case you may have up to three close contacts and sometimes they will be asymptomatic with negative antigen tests. That’s where a lot of the stress is coming from, particularly in critical supply chain issues.”
Mr McCoy said some companies may not open this week, while there had been “a diminution in the supply”, demand was still coming.
“What we’re seeing on this occasion is the scale of people getting caught up in the close contact rules, the supply capacity is going down right across the economy. Some of those are fairly critical, that’s why the Government and the health authorities need to act fairly quickly this week to give some guidance.
“The rules are not clear on what is acceptable (antigen or PCR) – the other frustration is they cannot ask the vaccination status of their employees.
“We need guidance and we need it in real time as people start to come back after the Christmas period in manufacturing in particular, which is really crucial to the economy.”
An Garda Síochána
Meanwhile the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has warned that the force is seeing significant numbers of staff absent from work because of Covid-19 and this was adding to the burden of their work.
Brendan O’Connor, vice-president of the GRA, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the pandemic was having an impact on the force either because people were infected or were close contacts.
“We’re back to the old style, fewer people expected to do more so it’s an added burden on our members.
“It’s just a fact that units are stripped down so we have less people parading for duty so there may be the same number of calls coming in and there’s just less people to do them. So people might be travelling further distances to deal with matters and we also have colleagues who may be unrested having to come in to backfill vacancies.
“Just like any workforce there’s just fewer people trying to deliver services, putting more pressure on those still in place providing that service.”
The leaders of the three Government parties – Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan – are due to meet tomorrow evening to discuss its response to the latest Covid-19 surge ahead of a full Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.