Wexford General Hospital ED to reopen for minor injuries following huge blaze
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The emergency department at Wexford General Hospital is scheduled to open by the end of this week for minor injuries "at best" following a huge blaze there earlier this month.
Work is ongoing to repair the facility with builders starting work at the hospital on Monday to carry out repairs. The major fire resulted in the largest medical evacuation in the history of the State as more than 200 patients were transferred.
Maternity services reopened last Friday despite damage to the special care infant ward and out-patient appointments have also resumed along with radiology services.
The fire broke out at the 280 bed facility on March 1 at around 4pm and forced the evacuation of patients to hospitals across the south-east, Dublin, Cork and Navan.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: “Good progress is being made, and 82 beds are now operational and that will go up to 124 beds by the end of the week.”
The quick thinking of staff and emergency services services averted the loss of life and injuries and has been praised by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Michael Martin, Health Minister Stephen and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien who has responsibility for the fire services.
The Taoiseach visited the hospital and committed to providing Government aid in rebuilding the damaged wing of the hospital. He said it will be “weeks if not months” before the hospital is fully operational.
In a statement the Ireland East Hospital Group (IHEG) said: “Solutions such as modular builds and other options to increasing capacity are being considered.
“A survey of critical infrastructure and services is ongoing. Decontamination and cleaning has been carried out in areas affected by the fire in order to facilitate construction repairs to be made.”
Wexford Fire Services, which battled the blaze for hours, believe a piece of machinery was most likely the cause of the fire in a plant room on the roof but the cause of the fire has not yet been fully determined.
University Hospital Waterford (UHW) emergency department continues to be extremely busy and the IEHG is asking all patients to consider their care options including GP and Out-of-Hours Services.
The reported earlier this week that the emergency department at UHW saw a 48% increase in attendance last weekend following the fire.