The Health Minister says every private bed in the country will need to be used to cope with a “very difficult” winter ahead for the health service.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is calling for the State to do deals with private hospitals now, so public hospitals don’t become over-run in the coming months.
Already there have been unusually high numbers of people on trollies at a number of hospitals including Sligo and Letterkenny.
There are concerns over how healthcare will be impacted by an expected “twindemic” of Covid-19 and flu.
Minister Stephen Donnelly says he instructed the HSE last night to use all private capacity available:
