Children's hospitals across Dublin have been hit with a "perfect storm" and are operating at critical capacity.
Temple Street, Crumlin, Tallaght and the urgent care centre at Connolly Hospital are experiencing "extreme pressure" in demands for services due to high numbers of patients attending paediatric Emergency Departments and the number of very sick children already in these hospitals.
Childrenâs Health Ireland is appealing to families/parents/guardians to attend local hospitals or care centres where possible with less severe illness to help ease pressure on the hospitals. However, if parents/guardians are worried that their child is seriously ill or injured, they should attend their nearest paediatric Emergency Department.
Read more: Young child dies of Strep A infection, health chiefs confirmed
Dr Ike Okafor, Clinical Director of CHI, said: "We have reached a point where we are under pressure with patient numbers on all four of our sites â Connolly, Crumlin, Tallaght and Temple Street. Our staff are working very hard in challenging circumstances. We are asking families to please access care for minor injuries and illnesses in their local care centre, GP or pharmacy.
âThis is a perfect storm â there are high levels of viruses in the community at the moment, and due to earlier appropriate measures to protect from COVID-19, families have not experienced illness in their children who were born during lockdown and we also have some very sick babies presenting to our EDâs who need acute care. We need to concentrate our resources on these sickest children.
âManagement and clinical teams are exploring all options to support safe staffing in our Emergency Departments, critical care and wards. We have already deployed staff across our sites and canât thank each staff member enough for what they are doing to keep our hospitals functioning. It is beyond the call of duty.â
CHI is restricting elective activity at their Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght hospitals as a result of very high numbers presenting to the emergency departments and urgent care centres. They said that cancellations of admissions are being reviewed each day and parents will be contacted directly by the hospital.
READ MORE
Concerning footage shows seal floating on dumped mattress in Dublin Bay
Binge drinking skyrockets among teens and adults after lockdowns
Mark Feehily going âbonkersâ as doctors give Westlife singer health warning
'My little girl went blind at 5 - but now we've been given the worst news imaginable'
Strep A symptoms warning from Irish doctor as deadly infection spreads
