Nurses are ‘physically and emotionally exhausted’: GP

Dr Paul Molloy, who himself regularly works at a Covid treatment centre, has paid tribute to staff working in “very extreme circumstances” both in the community and in hospitals.

Dr Molloy says numbers presenting at the Covid centre in Derry this week remained “fairly consistent”.

“They have not dropped as much as I thought they would have,” he told the ‘Journal’ yesterday.

Dr Molloy said it was no secret that both hospital wards and the Intensive Care Unit have been extremely busy.

“My initial feeling was that, with a period of restrictions, the numbers I was seeing would drop and, subsequently, the numbers needing hospital care would reduce.

“I still hope this will happen but it is not what I am feeling and seeing from my workload and the number of patients attending.”

Dr Molloy says it is imperative that people continue to wear masks, limit their travel and wash their hands.

“I pray the current situation settles and that some capacity remains in our hospital system,” he added.