The Ireland East Hospital Group has said that Wexford General Hospital Emergency department will not re-open for a number of weeks despite claims by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly that it would.
Minister Donnelly had said he expected that the ED would reopen by the end of this week.
He had said that “good progress is being made, and 82 beds are now operational and that will go up to 124 beds by the end of the week.”
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The IEHG said in a statement issued on Thursday evening: “Management and staff in WGH would like to remind the people of Wexford not to attend WGH’s ED at this time.
“If you require emergency care, please dial 999/112 or attend your closest alternative ED. It will be a considerable number of weeks before the ED in WGH is fully open again.
“The reinstatement of services and the ED in WGH is the number one priority for hospital management and staff. As stated previously the reopening of the hospital will be done on a phased basis.”
The statement continued that once services and departments become operational the hospital will communicate this with patients and the people of Wexford, as appropriate.
Work is ongoing to repair the facility after a major fire there last week. More than 200 patients had to be transferred to other hospitals in the south-east, Dublin and Cork.
Builders started work at the Hospital last Monday to carry out repairs after the major fire which resulted in the largest medical evacuation in the history of the State.
Maternity services reopened last Friday despite damage to the special care infant ward and out-patient appointments resumed along with radiology after the fire broke out at the 280 bed facility on Wednesday of last week at around 4pm.
The quick thinking of staff and emergency services services, including 75 firefighters from across the county and Waterford, averted the loss of life and injuries and has been praised by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Michael Martin, Health Minister Stephen and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien who has responsibility for the fire services.
The Taoiseach visited the hospital and committed to providing Government aid in rebuilding the damaged wing of the hospital. He said it will be “weeks if not months” before the hospital is fully operational.
In a statement the Ireland East Hospital Group said: “Solutions such as modular builds and other options to increasing capacity are being considered.
“A survey of critical infrastructure and services is ongoing. Decontamination and cleaning has been carried out in areas affected by the fire in order to facilitate construction repairs to be made.”
Wexford Fire Services which battled the blaze for hours believe a piece of machinery was most likely the cause of the fire in a plant room on the roof but the cause of the fire has not yet been fully determined.
University Hospital Waterford ED continues to be extremely busy and the IEHG is asking all patients to consider their care options including GP and Out-of-Hours Services. CareDoc continues to have additional GPs available during out of hours in the Wexford and Waterford areas.
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