Advice to parents of sick children in view of current and significant pressures on the Emergency Departments (ED) in CHI at Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght

The EDs in the three national children’s hospital are especially busy today with very long waits to be seen and considerable numbers of children waiting for admission to inpatient beds, including very young children and babies with respiratory infections. This situation is likely to continue over the weekend.

In this regard the three hospitals are asking parents to think about all their care and treatment options including their local family GP and GP Out of Hours service before attending one of the three EDs.

The HSE Health Atlas helps parents and families search automatically find Out of Hours GP Services in their area and provide opening hours and contact details.

Please see https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/maps/

However if your child is seriously ill or injured or you are worried that their life may be at risk, please attend one of our ED and we will assess and treat your child as a matter of priority.

Patient safety and the safe delivery of care remains the number one priority across all three hospitals

For more information on staying well this Winter, please see https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/news/newsfeatures/winter-initiative/stay-well/stay-well-this-winter.html