The Saolta University Health Care Group comprises:
University Hospital Galway
Merlin Park University Hospital
Portiuncula University Hospital
Mayo University Hospital
Roscommon University Hospital
Sligo University Hospital
Letterkenny University Hospital

We now have processes in place in each hospital to ensure that patients presenting with COVID-19 symptoms and non-COVID patients are treated separately from the moment they arrive at any of our hospitals.
These arrangements have been in place across the Group for over a week and are working well on each hospital site.
In some cases that has involved some work at our Emergency Department entrances to facilitate a separation of patients.
In others, we have relocated the hospital entrance to other parts of the building to ensure that patients and staff can access the hospital safely when necessary.
We are not just managing individual sites but our hospitals are working to support each other as a Group and that co-operation gives us significant confidence in the Group’s ability to deal with this issue.
We have increased our Intensive Care capacity across each of our hospitals with ICU facilities. This has involved in some cases doubling the number of ICU beds. We are continuing to see an increase in the number of patients requiring ICU care across the Group.
Our five critical care units are working very closely across the Group and hospitals are supporting each other should that need arise.
We have purchased additional specialist equipment, including ventilators and we continue to place orders for further ventilators so they will be in place should we require them. Staff across the Group’s hospitals have reorganised their teams to enable them to provide care to patients safely. A large number of staff have undertaken additional training so that they can support their ICU colleagues if required.
We are working closely with the private hospitals in Galway and Sligo to identify what patients can receive their treatment there. These facilities will act as part of the public health system for the duration of the pandemic.
In Galway, for example we hope to move patients who receive their medical rehabilitation in Merlin Park University Hospital to the Bon Secours Hospital and we are currently looking at other treatments that can take place there.
We are working with the Galway Clinic to facilitate patients who require urgent cancer and time sensitive surgeries and we hope that these patients can have their procedures here as quickly as possible.
We have maintained empty beds in all of our hospitals so that we have them if and when the situation escalates. If there is a surge in the number of cases of COVID 19 presenting to our acute hospitals we have identified additional capacity to support those hospitals.
We have advanced plans to deliver that extra available capacity; this includes identifying ward space in Merlin Park University Hospital, dedicated wards in Roscommon University Hospital, using the private hospitals in Galway; and using the new Mayo Roscommon Hospice building in Castlebar if necessary.
As part of these plans we have also submitted a proposal nationally to develop an additional health facility in Galway city – this would be located on the grounds of NUI Galway. While we are hopeful that we won’t need to use all of this extra capacity, we still feel it is very important to plan and prepare for a worst case scenario and we continue to urge the public to adhere to all of the HSE guidance to prevent the further spread of COVID 19.
I would like to pay particular tribute to all of the staff in Saolta for all they have done in recent weeks to prepare for and deal with this unprecedented public health emergency. Every day they continue to demonstrate their dedication and commitment to providing the highest standard of patient care, even in these difficult times.
We are also grateful to the public for their support in adhering to the Government measures to restrict the spread of this virus. We know it is not easy for our communities but equally it is a critical part of our response to this pandemic. Flattening the curve gives our health services the time required to prepare for an increase in patients and minimises the chance of our services becoming overwhelmed.