Galway Bay fm newsroom - Ongoing Disruption to Hospital Services at Portiuncula University Hospital
Hospital services across the West and North West will face ongoing service disruptions into next week as a result of the ransomware attack on the HSE IT systems. Work is ongoing to get priority systems back including radiology, diagnostic and patient information systems which are essential for the delivery of safe care.
James Keane, General Manager at Portiuncula University Hospital said, “Steady progress is being made in getting vital clinical systems back up and running. This has to be done in a very safe way and we anticipate it will take a number of weeks.
“For now maternity services, chemotherapy treatment and physiotherapy appointments are going ahead as usual.
“From Monday we will be resuming outpatient appointments and day case procedures on a phased basis and we are contacting patients to confirm their appointment.
“Where possible we are asking patients to bring their existing patient number or board number with them when they come to the hospital or any letter that they have received from the hospital as this will contain information which will make it easier for us to find existing medical records. Patients should also bring a current list of medications or prescriptions.
“We recognise how difficult these disruptions are for patients particularly those who have been waiting a long time for an appointment and we would like to thank patients and their families for their ongoing support at this time.
“As services resume, we will contact patients to let them know and we will update hospital service information on hse.ie and saolta.ie.”
Overview of current hospital disruptions:
CANCELLATIONS
· Diagnostics including x-ray, CT scans, MRI appointments are cancelled.
· Elective inpatient procedures are cancelled.
A small number of procedures/diagnostics may go ahead and these patients will be contacted directly. Patients are asked not to come to the hospital unless contacted.
GOING AHEAD
· Outpatient appointments - on a phased basis and patients will be contacted directly.
· Maternity services including antenatal scanning.
· Chemotherapy.
· Day case procedures - on a phased basis and patients will be contacted directly.
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
The Emergency Department is still open for all emergencies. Patients needing urgent care will be prioritised. Patients can expect significant delays in the Emergency Department as existing IT systems are not in use and the manual workarounds in place are time-consuming. We ask patients to contact their GP or GP Out Of Hours Service in the first instance if their health problem is not urgent
Ongoing updates on service disruptions will be provided on hse.ie and on saolta.ie.
