Fears
Fears busy bank holiday weekend will add to hospital overcrowding crisis
Hospitals have been asked to use private nursing home beds where possible to make beds available for emergency patients as concern grows about another busy bank holiday weekend.
For much of this week there were more than 600 patients on trolleys or chairs in hospitals around the country waiting for a bed. On Thursday, this number dipped slightly to 553 patients as emergency measures were out in place.
However there were no children’s ICU beds available, and just seven adult ICU beds available on Thursday.
Across Munster, there were just three adult ICU beds available, one in Limerick and two in Waterford.
Patients attending hospitals in Munster are particularly likely to face delays, with 101 people on trolleys on Thursday at University Hospital Limerick, 66 in Cork University Hospital, and 21 at the Mercy University Hospital.
The ED at Wexford General Hospital remains closed, with less serious injuries now being treated at an injury unit only.
Among the emergency measures put in place is a request for senior clinical decision-makers — including hospital consultants — to be available over the weekend. This was previously done in early January when the trolley numbers hit 931 patients on just one day.
“Emergency departments continue to be extremely busy and the HSE regrets that patients, particularly those who are non-urgent, are experiencing long waiting times,” a spokeswoman said.
“Hospital teams across the country, together with the HSE national team, are working hard to do all they can to reduce the length of time patients wait in emergency departments — particularly as we come in to what is traditionally a very busy weekend in our EDs.”
Hospitals have also been asked to send home patients who may be well enough to leave, or discharge them to community beds in a respite centre if appropriate.
This comes against a backdrop of continued unusually high attendance at emergency departments across the country.
Limerick hospital, for example, saw 278 people seeking treatment in one 24-hour period at the start of the week.
This is putting pressure on hospitals’ ability to offer elective care, and the HSE said this balance was continuing.
The HSE said it had increased efforts to inform the public about other suitable options.
“This is in order to protect our EDs for patients who need urgent and emergency care,” they said.
This includes injury units, out-of-hours GPs and pharmacies, with GPs also able to refer patients to medical assessment units in some hospitals with 999/112 calls still available for serious illness or injury.
Injury units treat injuries that are not life-threatening, such as broken bones, dislocations, sprains, wounds, scalds and minor burns.
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Key highlights
- Several factors could contribute to the resurfacing of a global recession and spark a fall in oil prices which could impact the Nigerian oil market.
- However, the Nigerian oil market is on its way to recovery. But, if a global recession happens, the reduced oil revenues could negatively affect Nigeria as the country struggles with increased debt and social challenges.
- Currently, there are reports that Nigeria is on its way to achieving 1.6 million barrels per day of crude oil production.
There are fears of a global recession and this could mean lower oil revenues for Nigeria as a crude producer. Dumebi Oluwole, a Senior analyst at Financial Derivatives Company said this during a recent interview via Channels Television. According to her, the fears of a global recession have resurfaced and are even more intense.
This is based on what has happened with the global banking system, the monetary policy tightening by the US Fed, European Central Bank (ECB) as well as in Nigeria. These will affect oil prices because just like in past years when there was a global recession, there will be low oil prices. She said:
“If the global economy slips into a recession, we will see oil prices slip below $80 per barrel. When we bring this home to Nigeria, it just means lower oil revenues, also, with the commitment of the government to remove fuel subsidies, the imports of refined petroleum products will decline and the federal government might have just a little more money to do other things in the economy.
“A significant thing to mention is that during the MPC meeting, one of the reasons why the monetary policy committee hiked interest rates, was more of a precautionary move to anchor inflation expectations ahead of the fuel subsidy removal.
The expectation is that if the fuel subsidy is removed, inflation will increase further and that is because transport costs will also increase due to higher fuel prices. If that happens, the cost of living will also increase.”
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Earlier on, Nairametrics had reported that the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) had impacted oil prices as Brent crude price fell below $80 per barrel on March 13 for the first time since February 2023.
Before the SVB collapse, analysts had said the global oil market was impacted by the announcement of further interest rate hikes by Federal Reserve officials, which had become widened by the SVB collapse.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is on track to reach 1.6 million barrels per day
A March 31 Reuters survey showed that among participating countries at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria posted OPEC’s biggest increase in March 2023. According to Reuters, Nigeria could be getting closer to a target to lift output to 1.6 million barrels per day as expected.
Reuters reports that there was a significant drop in production in Angola and Ira. However, Gulf producers like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates maintained high compliance with their targets under the OPEC+ agreement.
What you should know: In 2022, OPEC+ agreed to cut oil production to support the market and the group will meet on April 3, to decide on this ongoing policy.
- As of Saturday, April 1, the Brent crude oil benchmark price was $79.89 at 2:41 (GMT+1), and the Bonny Light benchmark was $79.33.
Cheltenham
Fears Cheltenham Day 2 could be CANCELLED with overnight temperatures of MINUS FIVE leaving Champion Chase under threat
THE second day of the Cheltenham Festival is under threat with overnight temperatures set to dip to an arctic MINUS FIVE.
The Prestbury Park course has already been battered by rain, snow and 50mph winds, with conditions turning soft.
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Cheltenham avoided the snowfall which hit parts of Britain last week and officials were hopeful the four-day event would be unaffected by the unseasonal weather.
But the prospect of a frozen course has led to fears Wednesday’s Queen Mother Champion Chase card could bite the dust.
Alan King’s Edwardstone and Irish rival Energumene are vying for favouritism in what is one of the standout races of the week.
The Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and the Coral Cup are among the other highlights set for the second day of the Festival.
Cheltenham gets underway on Tuesday with superstar hurdler Constitution Hill in action in the Unibet Champion Hurdle at 3:30.
Rachael Blackmore will also star on Honeysuckle for its last ever race in the 4.10 Cross-Country Steeple Chase in
The jockey described Honeysuckle as “unbelievable” and is hoping for one more big day from the mare.
She said: “She is simply an unbelievable mare, and she has been an unbelievable mare for me. She has been incredible for my career.
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“All that she has achieved, and I have been lucky enough to ride her.
“As has been well publicised, this will be her last race and I won’t be looking back. We can do that when it’s over.
“Honeysuckle has given us all the big days that she could have given us so far, the crowds have been brilliant, and I would love her to have one more big day. She deserves it.
“She’s in great form, she still feels like she is very well, she still feels like she has plenty of fight in her.”
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- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry, or depressed
- Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
- Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org
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