Navan Hospital on standby to accept Wexford patients

Our Lady's Hospital, Navan was on standby last night and this morning to accept patients from Wexford General Hospital where a fire broke out yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.

While no patients were actually transferred to Navan, the hospital had been ready to accept up to a dozen patients this morning.

A “major emergency” was declared at the 280-bed Wexford hospital yesterday, and an investigation is under way into where and how the fire started.

Up to 100 ambulances were involved in the effort to evacuate the 207 patients, who were in the hospital at the time, to other facilities.

The fire had been confined to a small area in a plant room on the roof of the building, according to Wexford Fire Service.

The fire occurred in a section over a central hub that included maternity and paediatric wards, as well as the intensive care unit.

The HSE’s chief operations officer, Damien McCallion has said that every effort will be made to restore services at Wexford General hospital as soon as possible, but that a full assessment will have to be carried out first.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Mr McCallion said that the main focus will be patients.

Outpatients services at the hospital are cancelled today and Friday and all urgent and emergency cases will have to go to other hospitals in the region.

“Wexford Emergency Department will not be open over the coming days. We will make decisions today and the team are working this morning and last night in relation to that technical assessment that will guide how we can reopen parts of the hospital and get the hospital back into operation,” he said.

Restoration of maternity services will be one of the priorities but in the intervening period, University Hospital Waterford will be providing maternity services cover.

Mr McCallion paid tribute to staff for their response to the crisis, evacuating and supporting patients.