It was feared that up to 1,500 people would be in hospital with flu around Christmas week but the rate of growth is slowing although the rate of infection is still growing as the flu is circulating at high levels.<\/p>\n
It said the number of reported flu cases in the week ending last Saturday was 3,287. This is up from 41 cases in week 40; 457 cases in week 45; and 2,943 cases in week 49. <\/p>\n
The number of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases have also climbed to 427. Covid is also circulating but at low levels.<\/p>\n
HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said: \u201cWe had been predicting a range of 700 to 1,500 cases being in hospital on any one day at the height of the flu. That range has now narrowed to a band of 800 to 1,100. We will also see the same number of new cases hospitalised per week. Last week it was 816 new cases hospitalised and today we have 634 people in hospital with flu. The latest modelling data available to me today is that the flu will peak Christmas week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to the pressure on hospitals he said : \u201cIn November 2024 we saw an average of 4,359 attendances per day at ED, this year that was 4,654 and yet we saw daily average trolley waits decrease from 318 to 255.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we go to the first 11 days of December last year, we saw 4,544 per day and this year it is an unprecedented increase of 5,097. Against that backdrop we are holding a relatively strong trolley wait position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a long way to go and I want to thank our healthcare workers for responding to the Minister for Health\u2019s support for the reforms and resources that have enabled this. We are working at full capacity to support people and while I anticipate serious pressures in the next short while I am confident that working with the community, we will manage this season and the impact of this early and hard hitting flu.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advice is:<\/p>\n
Get your seasonal flu vaccine nowPractice respiratory etiquetteWash your hands frequentlyStay away from others, or at home, if you are unwell and able to do so<\/p>\n
If you have symptoms, then for those few days please do not visit vulnerable relatives\/friends\/neighbours at home, in hospital or in care settings. Arrange for someone else to have these key contacts, the HSE advised.<\/p>\n
If you are unwell and need medications, try to send someone else to collect from the pharmacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are ill and need to attend for care you should consider wearing a mask if you can and if a local healthcare facility asks you to do so we would appreciate your co-operation,\u201d said the HSE.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no general call for public to use masks, but some people may wish to do so in crowded indoor spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you need healthcare and are unwell for any reason, then please note that there are many options available to you. GP services, Local Medical and Injury Units, Out of Hours Services, Pharmacy and please go to HSE.ie for good health advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmergency Departments are seeing unprecedented attendances even for this time of year. People will be seen in accordance with the triage of their presentation and this is why people are urged to always consider all of the options available.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was feared that up to 1,500 people would be in hospital with flu around Christmas week but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[4593,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-202268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-eilish-oregan","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}