Mullingar Hospital Warning Of "Extremely Busy" Conditions Again Today

A lot of seriously ill patients have presented at the hospital.

Mullingar Regional Hospital has issued in the following statement in light of overcrowded conditions in the hospital today:

Regional Hospital Mullingar’s ED and hospital continues to be extremely busy and are seeing a lot of seriously ill patients, many of which are over 75 years of age with a variety of complex healthcare needs.    

We apologise for the distress or inconvenience caused to patients or their loved ones who are experiencing long wait times.  The Full Capacity Protocol has been implemented our consultants are doing additional ward rounds to facilitate discharges and we are working with the community to discharge patients where it is appropriate to the community.

The hospital is asking that people think about all their care and treatment options, the length of time you may be waiting in ED should you not require urgent care and we would ask that people keep our ED services for the patients who need them most.

However, if you are seriously injured or ill the ED will assess and treat you as a priority.  We ask the public to please adhere to all Public Health Guidance and wear a face covering and keep socially distanced, wash your hands frequently and to wash your hands frequently.

Contact your GP immediately if you have COVID-19 symptoms.  Do not attend the ED. 

Call your doctor immediately if you think you have one or more symptoms of coronavirus (fever, cough, difficulty breathing, loss or change in your taste or smell). The COVID-19 test and GP consultation is provided free of charge. Your doctor will assess you over the phone and can arrange a COVID-19 test. Early diagnosis means you can get the help you need and take steps to avoid spreading the virus to someone else. Remember, if you have symptoms of COVID-19, you need to self-isolate at home for 10 days, while people in your household will need to restrict their movements. The increase in cases in recent weeks shows that the virus is actively circulating in the community at moment. GP out of hours services can arrange a COVID-19 test at the weekend to check if you have the virus. If you have symptoms of COVID-19 over the weekend- call your GP out of hours service.