Visiting restrictions in place at Midland Regional Hospital

Visiting restrictions have been put in place at Tullamore's Midland Regional Hospital due to the high level of influenze currently circulating in the community.

According to a statement from the HSE, the hospital is currently experiencing 'a high number of patients' with respiratory viral illnesses, such as Influenza, and as a precautionary measure, visiting restrictions have been implemented in all hospital departments to help reduce the spread of the virus within the healthcare setting.

Visiting is restricted on The Brosna Ward with compassionate and critical visits continuing to be accommodated by contacting the Clinical Nurse Manager or Nurse-in-Charge of the relevant ward.

Visiting times to all other wards is restricted to 6.30pm to 8pm only, and only one visitor allowed per patient for30 minutes at a time. These measures will be kept under regular review, said the HSE statement.

The hospital apologises for any inconvenience caused and thank the public for their understanding and co-operation.

Louisea Burke, General Manager of Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore, said: “We have implemented visiting restrictions in all areas to help keep patients and staff safe from respiratory viral illnesses, such as Influenza, Covid and RSV, which are all currently circulating in the community. We kindly remind the public to only visit the hospital if you are symptom-free from flu' or other respiratory illnesses. Please refer to the HSE website for specific information and regular updates.”

Where possible, the management at Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore is asking patients with non-emergency conditions to seek assistance from other parts of the health service such as their local pharmacy, GP, GP out-of-hours service, or a local injury unit.