health report
Removing Barriers of Digital Transformation in Healthcare
A system under pressure With the pandemic now stretching into its third calendar year in Ireland and waiting list numbers reaching all-time highs in 2021, the Irish health system has come under significant pressure of late, at a time when efforts were to be focused on the implementation of the Sláintecare reforms. Covid-19 Yet again, the health system has come under pressure due to a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases. Having been as low as 200-300 new cases per day in June 2021, case numbers steadily rose from October onwards, peaking at 5,959 new cases on 21 November, with between 3,000 and 5,000 new cases recorded each day for most of November and into December. While these numbers do not make for good reading, there is solace to be drawn from both testing numbers and hospitalisation rates that show a health system that has gotten to grips with the virus much more than in previous waves. The effectiveness of the vaccination campaign rolled out by the health system during 2021 is borne out in hospitalisation figures: on 5
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December, a seven-day average of 4,885 new cases was recorded, with a seven-day average of 543 hospitalisations (11.1 per cent) and 115 (2.3 per cent) people in intensive care. In comparison, a seven-day average of 4,381 new cases per day was recorded on 15 January 2021, with a seven-day average of 1,623 hospitalisations (37 per cent) and 156 people in intensive care (3.6 per cent). Testing capacity has also been greatly increased, with November and December consistently recording seven-day average records for tests taken. The average now exceeds 30,000 per day. This, of course, has led to an increase in the rate of positive tests, with positive rates over 10 per cent recorded in October for the first time since January, reaching as high as 15 per cent in November, though still
not as high as the 25 per cent seen in January, when 5,000 less tests per day were being taken. However, despite the relative success of the vaccination programme in keeping people out of hospitals and in the increased testing capacity in detecting cases, the health system has still been put under significant pressure due to a lack of capacity. HSE figures released in mid-November showed 288 ICU beds open and staffed in Ireland, with 279 of them (97 per cent) occupied, 119 by Covid patients. Projections for numbers of ICU beds needed for Covid cases alone during this current wave range from 300 to 500; while Budget 2022 committed to the delivery of 340 ICU beds in the State by the end of 2022. ICU capacity is an issue that has affected the health system well before Covid, with the
