Chief Executive of the HSE Paul Reid has said the organisation is preparing a plan on how private hospitals can be used to carry out urgent non Covid-19 related procedures.
Mr Reid said 241 private hospital consultants had now signed the new contract to work in the public system.
Speaking at this morning's HSE briefing, Chief Operations Officer Anne O’Connor said while there were currently just over 950 patients in hospital with confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19, the health service had not seen the kind of numbers being hospitalised that it had originally feared.
The briefing heard the HSE has commissioned a plan to use the private hospital capacity it now has to start dealing with some of the non-Covid related services that may have been delayed due to the outbreak.
People waiting for treatment for conditions that are particularly urgent will be prioritised.
HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid says a plan is being put together for non-coronavirus related issues to be dealt with through the private hospital system, and says there is a "reasonable reluctance" among people to come forward for time-dependent surgeries pic.twitter.com/WCGIvMl6fn
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 3, 2020
The HSE has also said it needs to make sure it has the capacity to deal with any second surge of the virus.
The briefing heard that complete testing has been carried out for staff and residents in 84% of nursing homes which have had an outbreak, and that is hoped to be completed in the coming week.
Ninety nursing homes are still of particular concern to the HSE.
Mr Reid said a majority of people in the general population were now waiting 3 days from the time they've been referred to getting a result. He acknowledged that wait had been much longer in the past.
On turnaround times for test results, HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid says they are aiming for a maximum of 48 hours from test time to result, and a maximum 3 days overall wait from initial contact to getting a result | Live updates: https://t.co/C3VLHKkImA pic.twitter.com/SFzqNarxOV
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 3, 2020
Mr Reid also said the overall trend of patients in intensive care is decreasing, with 98 patients and 28 suspected cases being treated in ICU as of this morning.
The overall number of people in hospitals treated for Covid-19 stands at 953.
Mr Reid also said that up to Friday last week 176,000 tests had been completed, which puts Ireland in the top 5 or 6 of countries in Europe for tests completed.
He said they took 60,000 swabs last week of which 57,000 have been processed by labs.
Further 12,000 swab tests were completed for the week on Friday as the HSE continues to build up to do 100,000 tests per week which "will be in place by May 18th," Mr Reid said.
HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid says up to Friday last week, 176,000 Covid-19 tests had been completed, which puts Ireland "in the top 5 or 6" countries in Europe for total tests completed pic.twitter.com/tWhk5EezgJ
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 3, 2020
He also said an app is being developed to compliment the contact tracing work being done by the HSE. The plan is for the app to improve the speed and effectiveness of contact tracing.
It will work via Bluetooth, Mr Reid said, with both Google and Apple involved in the process. The plans will go to the Data Protection Commissioner, added Mr Reid.
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Ms O'Connor said there is still capacity in the health system but it is reducing week on week.
Trolley numbers increased slightly this week up to 28, and there are indications hospitals are experiencing difficulties discharging people home and back to nursing homes, she added.
Ms O'Connor said Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) continues to be a challenge in some areas.
"We know we can't always meet what people want", she said, adding: "Eight million pieces of PPE were delivered and 62% of it went to residential care settings and they are carrying out 600 deliveries per day".
HSE Chief Operations Officer Anne O'Connor says Personal Protective Equipment continues to be a challenge in some areas, saying they know they "can’t always meet what people want" | Live updates: https://t.co/C3VLHKkImA pic.twitter.com/4dqeRMI1yj
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 3, 2020
Ms O'Connor said the HSE hopes to complete all testing in nursing homes this weekend and they will be moving on to mental health and disability settings next week, so they expect to see an increase in these figures.
Some nursing homes are managing quite well for staff but others are struggling because of the amount of staff who have the virus, she said.
Separately, the National Covid Lead for Primary Care, John O'Brien said general practice will have changed considerably from what people have seen previously.
He said people may well wait in cars as opposed to waiting rooms, they may see perspex up to protect staff, they may see a lot of video consultation before they get to surgery themselves.
Things will take longer, he said, and the public will need to be patient but they do want to see you. "Please come forward," he said.
Additional reporting: Paul O'Flynn
