Trust planning to ‘reset and return’ hospital services

THE Western Health Trust is making moves to “reset and return” hospital services after a huge reduction in the numbers of patients being treated locally for coronavirus.

Speaking at a virtual media briefing on Monday morning, Mrs Geraldine McKay (pictured), the Trust’s director of acute services, said they hadn’t had the surge they expected across the west.

Mrs McKay said, as of Monday morning, there were six Covid-19 positive patients in Altnagelvin Hospital and a further three in South West Acute Hospital, outside Enniskillen.

She said, “This is a huge reduction from where we started.”

The director of acute services said this was mainly down to the local population doing exactly what they were asked to do – staying at home, washing their hands regularly and maintaining social distancing.

Mrs McKay said that the Trust were now “reverting back from our high phase of surge” and were returning wards back to their normal speciality provision.

“As we go forward, we will keep doing this and try and maintain some sort of normality in resetting services,” she said.

Part of this process will be an increase in the use of ‘virtual’ working, such as for consultations by doctors.

Mrs McKay added, “My message to the public is we will try our best to support you and get you seen as quickly as possible but we have to find a ‘new normal’ way of working and that’s where we are right now.”

For the full story, and more from Monday’s media briefing, read this Thursday’s Ulster Herald.