University Hospital Kerry has cancelled elective surgeries to manage a surge in the number of hospitalised Covid-19 cases.
Starting next week, all non-critical surgeries will be cancelled while outpatient appointments will also be postponed.
A spokesperson for University Hospital Kerry said the decision to cancel appointments was not made lightly but that continuing difficulties associated with increasing Covid-19 figures and staffing challenges forced their hand.
All elective appointments have been cancelled from Monday to Friday of next week with the exception of critical procedures.
Those include orthopedic trauma clinics, infusion clinics, cardiology out patient scans and procedures, radiology outpatient imaging, virtual clinics, antenatal clinics, oncology and palliative care clinics as well as colposcopy clinics.
Patients are advised not to attend scheduled outpatient and elective surgeries unless a member of UHK staff contacts them to say otherwise.
Hospital management have also requested that the public contact a GP or South Doc and explore all options available to them prior to presenting to the emergency department.
Hospital visiting is still restricted at the hospital.
