The provision of care to patients attending Emergency Departments (EDs) has been seriously impacted by the cyber attack on the HSE’s IT systems, ED staff have warned.

According to the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM), the country’s 28 EDs and 11 injury units remain open, however, the need to shut down the many IT systems used in the public health system has led to major difficulties.

It appealed to people to only attend an ED if emergency treatment is needed.

“Serious consideration should be given to attending other services not impacted by the absence of IT, such as primary care and private hospital services, where these services exist and/or are appropriate to the clinical issue.

“While ED medical and nursing staff will do their best to attend to those presenting, care will be provided first to those with the greatest need for care and there will inevitably be delays in patient throughput,” the IAEM warned.

As patient administration systems are not currently accessible, it asked people to bring any information that may be of use to staff, such as medical record numbers (MRN), patient chart numbers (PCN), and medication lists, if they have access to these.

As blood tests, x-rays and scans cannot be ordered electronically at the moment, and many of the automatic processes used in laboratories are unavailable, there are long delays in normal turn around times for these.

Staff also do not have access to previous x-ray or scan results. If an x-ray has to be carried out, it must be reviewed in real time, which is causing further delays.

The IAEM also appealed to people who may have had an elective service cancelled as a result of the cyber attack, not to present to an ED seeking the service that was deferred. It warned that it would not be in a position to assist, and such a move would add to its already “significant workload”.

It also reminded people that Covid-19 is still a real threat and precautions must continue to be taken to protect staff and patients.

“We are also acutely aware that HSE IT personnel and many others are working day and night to restore these vital services as soon as possible, and although we are currently struggling to provide our normal level of care, all of us at the frontline greatly appreciate their efforts at this difficult time,” it added.