Shortage of staffs; The Department of Health urges nurses in Ireland to return to work

The Department of Health recommends that all nurses and care assistants who have been laid off due to close contacts with Covid patients return to work.

Only health workers who do not experience symptoms of Covid-19 should be allowed to return to work immediately.

Currently, about 7,000 nurses have been laid off in connection with the Covid. About 4,000 of them are from acute hospitals.

HSE Executive Chief Operations Officer Ann O’Connor said the health department was forced to make such a decision based on the finding that the growing number of positive patients in hospitals across the country was not being treated properly.

The congestion caused by Covid-19 is putting too much pressure on the acute hospital system.172 patients are currently in intensive care.

Cork University Hospital (142) University Hospital Limerick (130) Galway University Hospital (124). The number of confirmed Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals, including St. Vincent’s University Hospital (119) in Dublin, has risen to 1,750.

According to the HSE, there are only 24 ICU beds left in the country. Fourteen hospitals have no ICU beds left.

Covid: The death toll is rising

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPET) said yesterday (Wednesday) that 3,569 new Covid-19 cases had been reported in Ireland, with 63 deaths reported in the past 24 hours from yesterday.