EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS are trying to cope with between five and 10 times the usual demand for treatment of broken bones as the cold weather continues into another week.
The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine said the problem was the same in every emergency department across the State and had been consistent since the start of the cold snap on the weekend before Christmas.
The association’s president, Dr Fergal Hickey, said the severity of the injuries being treated was greater than normal.
Dr Hickey, a consultant in emergency medicine at Sligo General Hospital, said he had e-mail correspondence from colleagues around the country “inundated with people with fractures and dislocations”.
“It is not unique to Cork or Sligo or anywhere else, it is across the country,” he said.
Earlier this week the head of Cork University Hospital’s emergency department, Prof Stephen Cusack, described the numbers presenting with dislocations, minor fractures and sprains as the equivalent of a “slow burning major incident”.
The hospital has performed more than 100 orthopaedic operations since Christmas Eve and is performing surgery in three operating theatres rather than one which would be normal for this time of year.
St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin has reported a similar upsurge with many presenting themselves with head wounds several days after falling on snow or ice.
Dr Hickey said Sligo would normally deal with six or seven fractures a day, most of which would not require surgery, but the numbers requiring surgery had increased dramatically.
“We’re getting more volume and we’re getting more people for surgery.
“Because elective surgery is generally turned off at this time of year, we have the capacity that we would not have had if this had happened six weeks ago or in a few weeks’ time,” he said.
The majority of those turning up are adults of all ages and most who do so are “stone-cold sober”, he added. Motorists remain most at risk from the freezing conditions.
Five people were killed on the roads over the Christmas period.
Secondary roads across the country remain highly dangerous. The worst affected counties include Cavan, Donegal, Roscommon, Leitrim, Offaly, Westmeath, Louth, Tipperary, Cork and Kerry.
Hazardous driving conditions in the west resulted in a number of road incidents yesterday and caused a security alert when a cash transit van overturned in east Galway.
One man was taken to Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, for treatment when the Brinks van skidded and overturned on the outskirts of the town.
Ballinasloe fire brigade used cutting equipment to free the two security guards from the vehicle.
Gardaí in Ballinasloe were called to assist, and to ensure that the van’s cash cargo was transferred.
The van had been en route to Portumna.