Emergency departments at city’s hospitals experiencing ‘exceptionally high demand’

HSE South West is cautioning that the emergency departments (EDs) at both of Cork city’s major hospitals are experiencing very high levels of activity due to ongoing winter viruses.

They are asking the public in Cork to consider all care options – including GPs, pharmacists and SouthDoc out-of-hours services.

It comes as 65 people were on trolleys at Cork University Hospital and 14 at Mercy University Hospital today, both of which the HSE have issued guidance for.

A HSE spokesperson explained: “When there is a large volume of ED attendances, patients are prioritised in terms of clinical need and wait times for non-urgent care can be lengthy.

“Patients arriving to the ED will be clinically assessed and seen in order or priority, so those with non-urgent presentations will be waiting a long time and are…