The Health Service Executive's weekly briefing heard today that the health service had demonstrated a capacity to deal with the surge caused by Covid-19 but the temporary redeployment of staff from other areas was not sustainable.
Dr Catherine Motherway said intensive care capacity in this country needs to be doubled and more permanent capacity needed to be built but this could not be done overnight.
Staff who had been temporarily redeployed to critical care duties would need to return to their original positions. Many existing facilities were old, she said and better isolation facilities needed to be built.
She said ICUs needed to aim for 70% capacity to be able to cope with surges. Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said the baseline