By Vivienne Clarke
The health service’s “heroes” are running out of steam and it is up to the public to do their bit, a hospital consultant has warned.
Beaumont consultant Dr Laura Durcan told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show: “We want to see light at the end of the tunnel."
“We will continue to do our level best, but morale is low, our people are tired. We need to see the public doing their bit, that, ultimately will dictate how this winter goes.”
Dr Durcan said that the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) “will keep us safe this winter” and that it needed to be acknowledged that they had done “a pretty good job so far.”
The rheumatologist said she did not want people to panic, and that they should trust that the medical profession would continue to do their best.
Insidious
Dr Durcan said that the hospital sees asymptomatic people all the time who are walking around, taking public transport and going shopping. Everyone needed to recognise that they could have the virus, at any time.
The virus has not gone away, she said. “We have to look for it everywhere and chase it down. The lesson is that it is insidious.”
A glimpse of a better future in health was a glimpse of a better future in the economy and for everybody, the doctor added.
“It will all come down to the individuals," Dr Durcan said, adding that if people needed to question should they be doing something, then they should not do it.
People should stay home with their family, she urged.
