The flu and vomitting bug continue to put health services in the north west and around the country under pressure.
Today’s trolley figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show there are 20 people in trolleys at Sligo University Hospital and 17 in Letterkenny.
The HSE says cases of the flu alone have tripled in Ireland over the past 2 weeks and the calls to GP services have reached the highest level reported since 2011 while respiratory admissions reached the highest level ever reported.
The HSE provides the flu vaccine free of charge for all those in the at-risk groups and it’s available from GPs and pharmacies.
However, GP services in the north west are also understood to be stretched to the limit as the flu outbreak continues with many not being able to take walk-ins due to the volume of patients presenting.
Not all pharmacies provide the vaccine but Boots is one pharmacy that does – Susan O’Dwyer from Boots Ireland says even though it takes 10 days for the vaccine to take effect it’s still not too late to get it:
