Number of COVID patients ‘reducing on a daily basis’ - Trust director

Geraldine McKay, Director of Care, Acute Hospital Services told a recent media briefing that at present, there were no COVID positive patients at Altnagelvin Hospital and just one at the Western Trust’s other major hospital, South West Acute in Enniskillen.

“The number of COVID patients are reducing on a daily basis,” she said.

In light of the improving situation, the Trust is now beginning the process of reintroducing services, while keeping contingency plans in place should a second spike of the coronavirus happen in the coming weeks or months.

Mrs McKay said outpatient (ambulatory) care capacity and acute medical capacity across both those sites was being reinstated, with direct access for GPs “to reduce footfall to the emergency department”.

In terms of critical care, the Trust is also reverting back to “pre-COVID levels of provision, with plans to immediately revert if a further surge of COVID emerges”.

For cancer patients, the Trust is focusing on prioritising new patient referrals and reviewing patients whose chemotherapy or radiotherapy was paused during the pandemic.

“In terms of outpatients we have planning well progressed to resume consultant and nursing led paediatric services, focusing initially on red flag and priority patients. In terms of inpatient and day patient elective surgery, plans also been progressed. We’re trying to move as quickly as possible to reinstate those services.”

Following an initial drop off, attendance at Emergency Departments in Derry and Enniskillen are returning back to pre-COVID levels, with Altnagelvin seeing around 30-40 less people per day than would have been the case pre-COVID.

“GP referrals and across all our services were well down in March and April but actually we’re seeing referrals now increasing in May and now at the start of June almost back up to normal levels,” Mrs McKay said.

Trust chief executive Anne Kilgallen said the phase one reset plans will try “to re-establish services as best we can given the threat of COVID which currently exists”. “COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way services were delivered here. Services were stripped down or scaled back and some new services were introduced to help us meet demands, Now that the first peak has passed of COVID-19 pandemic, focus has shifted to planning to restarting services while remaining sufficiently flexible so that services can respond to further waves of this disease.”