RSV outbreak and cancellation of surgery in Temple Street and Crumlin hospitals.

political analyst

I saw a report on Six-One yesterday about the cancellation of surgery for children who have spina bifida or scoliosis at Temple Street and Crumlin hospitals due to lack of available intensive care beds, which is because of an increase in the number of admissions to those hospitals, at least one cause of which is RSV.

https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/about/symptoms.html

At a glance, the symptoms of RSV seem pretty much the same as those of the flu. So why don't parents of children who have RSV just keep them at home and ask their GPs for guidance over the phone? These parents seem oblivious to the impact that their choices are having on children who have spina bifida or scoliosis.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058271454/rsv-outbreak-and-cancellation-of-surgery-in-temple-street-and-crumlin-hospitals

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X%2821%2900558-1/fulltext

Kids are not being admitted for fun.

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119865307#Comment_119865307

I never said it was fun. If children are ill with respiratory viruses, didn't it used to be the done thing to keep them at home and give them Calpol and 7-Up that has been made flat by boiling?

fits

There’s been a huge surge in RSV causing problems in US also. It’s difficult to stop Id say as it’s probably very mild in some children.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119865317#Comment_119865317

RSV is one of the main causes of death in infants.

The parents are also not the ones choosing to admit the children either. They are admitted because they are exceptionally ill. This is an utterly bizarre attack on the parents of sick kids.

Larbre34

There is a (relatively) simple solution to this.

Using the Covid emergency model, the HSE should take over one private hospital facility, to act as a sanatorium. All the kids diagnosed with acute RSV, from wherever in the Country, should be moved there. RSV is worrying, of course, when poor youngsters are running high fevers and on Hartmanns drips and nasal oxygen. But its a pretty straightforward illness that doesn't really require paediatric specialists, just standard nursing supervision and time to fight the virus and recover.

Then the kids requiring the urgent orthopaedic surgery could be brought straight into Crumlin and Temple Street and have their corrective work carried out.

It can be fixed, today, if the will and the flexibility is there.

circadian

If they are admitted to hospital for RSV then I'm pretty sure the medical staff recommended it. Pretty sure I can't land down to the hospital and demand my child be given a bed.

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119865341#Comment_119865341

The numbers of RSV infant deaths couldn't be any higher than the numbers of 'cot deaths'. Isn't having spina bifida and having to wear a head brace while waiting for surgery that is cancelled at short notice a fate worse than death?

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119865392#Comment_119865392

No.

Though I will consider the doctor's viewpoint that the kids are sick enough to be admitted and also your viewpoint that they could be treated at home with 7Up and give them both the weight they deserve.

SuperBowserWorld

I am still amazed the government spent billions at the drop of a hat on covid and there are still kids with scoliosis getting pushed aside.

Fucked up country.

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119865514#Comment_119865514

Have being pushed aside for 4 years waiting for scoliosis in crumlin, in crumlin the reason for ward closures is nursing staff out with covid and that’s why beds have been closed, no fear of the lazy admin getting covid in that hospital.

mohawk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058271454/rsv-outbreak-and-cancellation-of-surgery-in-temple-street-and-crumlin-hospitals

My son ended up in ICU as a baby with RSV. He was lucky to survive it. He was in respiratory distress. Any parent of a child with respiratory distress is going to bring their child into A&E. He was seen practically straight away because it’s a life threatening emergency.

The scoliosis operations taking so long has been happening a long, long time and is a disgrace. I knew one surgeon who is involved in a charity that raises money for kids to have the operation done in private hospitals.

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119865514#Comment_119865514

And women suffering (and not believed) with debilitating endometriosis.

Anita Blow

If a child with RSV bronchiolitis is requiring a PICU bed then no, they can't be managed at home with Calpol & 7up. Typically to require a PICU bed with bronchiolitis it's because you're requiring a tube and ventilator to breathe.

There has been a very large RSV wave this Winter which is likely only to get worse as the peak is typically mid/late Winter and this is combined with poor infrastructure/lack of PICU & general hospital beds with absolutely dire staffing due to awful working conditions. I suspect most elective procedures will be postponed for many weeks yet