THE HSE HAS asked the public to consider all care options before presenting at emergency departments (EDs) following an “extremely busy” weekend. 

The health service said that emergency departments are experiencing high levels of presentations due to ongoing high illness rates related to winter viruses. 

As of 8am, there were 272 patients on trolleys, while there were 352 people waiting to be discharged at midnight.

The health service said that people who require emergency care should attend EDs, “where they will be prioritised”.

It is asking those who do not require emergency care to consider seeking treatment at a pharmacy, from their GP or at an injury unit before presenting at an ED.

In a statement, HSE chief operations officer Damien McCallion said many emergency departments are “extremely busy” this bank holiday weekend.

“While we have seen a dip in numbers of Covid-19 and flu from the January peak, there are still high levels of respiratory illness circulating and impacting our hospitals,” he said.

“Those who believe they may be seriously ill and require emergency care should come to hospital, but we would ask others who are not seriously ill, to consider seeking support from pharmacists, GPs, GP Out of Hours Services and Injury Units”.

McCallion said a number of surge measures have been put in place as part of the HSE Urgent and Emergency Care Plan to reduce the number of patients waiting on trolleys for an acute bed.

“While we have seen increased attendances of close to 15%, we’ve seen some improvements in the number of patients delayed in hospitals, the average trolleys every week, and also the statistics for older people where we put a particular focus on to ensure that those patients over 75 were admitted or discharged within 24 hours,” he continued.

“We do not want to be complacent and would like to take every opportunity to ensure our EDs treat those who need emergency care as quickly and safely as possible.”