By Vivienne Clarke
Intensive care consultant Dr Colman O’Loughlin, who is also president of the Intensive Care Society, has warned that moving from Level 3 to Level 5 of the Living with Covid Plan will only work if there is compliance from the public.
Dr O’Loughlin told RTÉ radio that “the fear factor” was missing, adding that during the first wave in the spring the public was afraid of the virus, but that was not the case now.
“Moving from Level 3 to Level 5 will only be useful if we get compliance.”
The director of Critical Care Medicine at the Mater Hospital also expressed concern about staffing levels in intensive care units. There are well laid-out plans for where critical care or intensive care beds can be found in the event of a surge, but the problem was there were no extra staff, he said.
It takes up to six months to train an intensive care nurse, Dr O'Loughlin said, adding: “It is a difficult road to travel."
The HSE has surge plans in place in all hospitals which can identify where beds and ventilators are, “but we don’t know where the staff are.”
Some of the staff who had commenced ICU training in April and May returned to regular nursing duties over the summer and as nurses were busy with post-operative care, they could not be taken away for training, he explained.
I think one of the main problems is that we really don't have a tracing system.
There was “a huge amount of sacrifice” made by patients who had elective procedures postponed, that had eased intensive care pressure in the spring, he said.
When asked if it was time to increase the level of restrictions, Dr O’Loughlin, said it was and that reducing transmission in the community was the only way to ease pressure on intensive care beds.
The Chair of the Covid-19 committee has also raised concerns about further restrictions, saying some people will not adhere to them.
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara said: "Unfortunately, I think that restrictions to date haven't worked. If the problem is that a certain group of society isn't adhering to the restrictions well then I don't really understand how they are going to adhere to more restrictions.
"I think one of the main problems is that we really don't have a tracing system."
