Children’s Health Ireland has reportedly entered “crisis mode,” with Silver Huddle meetings to be held to explore ways to extend hospital capacity.
Speaking to The Anton Savage Show, Dr Brendan O’Shea, Assistant Professor of Primary Care at Trinity College Dublin, discussed the situation.
“Things are very challenging and we're under a lot of pressure. I'm not sure it's unprecedented. This tends to happen kind of most winters and some winters are definitely worse than others, and the evidence would suggest we're in one of those ones.”
Dr O’Shea emphasised household preparedness as a key factor in mitigating pressures on the healthcare system.
"It's particularly important for those households to have really high uptakes of influenza vaccine, to be up to date with COVID boosters, if you haven't been immunised and you should be, get immunised,” he said.
He also noted the importance of having sufficient paediatric medications at home, including ibuprofen and paracetamol, and being aware of medically vulnerable people in the household.
On recognising serious illness, Dr O’Shea explained:
“So, what we're seeing in large numbers are children with coughs, colds, runny noses, sore throats, occasionally a blanching rash, if the child's fluid intake is good, then it's unlikely that it's a serious medical condition requiring further evaluation.”
He advised parents to be patient, as typical viral illnesses can last 10 to 14 days:
“Just because it hasn't gotten better after four or five days does not necessarily mean it's a serious condition or a serious illness," he said.
Dr O’Shea also noted that many children in casualty departments could safely be discharged, reinforcing the importance of household-level interventions and preparation.
“One of the observations of the Sunday Independent was the consultant who was interviewed indicated that 90% of people, it was possible to discharge the children. So that would suggest numbers are going into casualty departments still who probably don't need to be there.”
The current flu surge is expected to continue throughout the winter months, with hospitals advising families to take precautions, keep vaccinations up to date, and be prepared to manage minor illnesses at home where possible.
Written by Annemarie Roberts
