New visiting arrangements announced for community hospitals/nursing units following upgraded Covid-19 restrictions

The HSE has put in place updated visiting arrangements for nursing homes in Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo.

"We request that immediate family members only visit and that children do not visit.  Visiting should be limited to one person at a time.  We request that people should be sensible regarding their visiting and that anyone who has signs or symptoms of illness should not visit and anyone who has returned from holidays from an affected area should not visit our units," noted a spokesperson for the HSE.

Chief Officer CHO 1 Mr John Hayes added “We recognise that the visiting restrictions may be challenging for patients and their families, however, our priority must be to protect the patients in our Community hospitals and Nursing units who are vulnerable to infection. We would like to thank members of the public for their co-operation.  We are very conscious that as the entire health service prepares to meet the challenges ahead, there will unfortunately be an impact on people using our services. We will do everything we can to keep that impact to a minimum. We wish to thank the people of the region for working with us.”

Director of Public Health, North West, Dr Anthony Breslin stated “Ireland remains in the containment phase. That means that all efforts are being made to identify contacts and to give them specific public health advice"

Anyone with general concerns should firstly visit HSE.ie/coronavirus. If you still have concerns, you may wish to can ring HSE Live on 1850 24 1850If you have been to one of the affected areas and you are not feeling well, check if you have symptoms of coronavirus. These are a cough, shortness of breath, breathing difficulties, fever (high temperature). If you do have symptoms of coronavirus, phone your GP/GP Out Of Hours Service or local emergency department (ED) without delay.

We wish to reiterate that anyone with symptoms should not show up at their GP/GP Out of Hours Service or ED unannounced

We would like to remind the public that the most important steps we can all take right now are to:

1)    Wash our hands, thoroughly and regularly for at least 20 seconds.

2)    Stop the spread of infections by covering your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, either with a tissue or your arm.

3)    Go to HSE.ie/coronavirus for the best and most current information as the situation evolves. If you have particular concerns, you can ring HSE Live on 1850 24 1850