MEDICAL STAFF PULL TOGETHER IN CRISIS
Medical staff pull together in crisis
By Rosie Uffindell
Social Affairs Reporter
HOSPITALS throughout the north immediately put their emergency action plans into operation as the scale of the incident emerged.
Hundreds of off-duty staff cut short their time off and some their holidays to volunteer to help treat the victims and counsel the bereaved.
Staff prioritised the injured and set up incident rooms to deal with worried relatives and media inquiries.
Helicopters were used to airlift some of the more critically ill patients to hospitals across the north.
And hospitals south of the border pitched in, offering both staff and medical supplies.
Social services staff said it was the biggest emergency they had ever had to cope with.
They said the "huge and harrowing task" of trying to inform relatives about their loved ones was being hampered by poor communications.
Mobile phones and telephone land-lines were unable to cope with the overload of calls and it was difficult to transfer information between hospitals.
Tyrone County Hospital surgeon Dominic Pinto said staff worked in "battlefield conditions" to tend the injured.
And colleague Glynis Henry said the hospital's response had been very much a team effort.
"Everyone is trying to see to the health and social needs of the population and those who have been injured," she said.
The injured were prioritised by staff to enable the most seriously injured to be treated first. Others were sent to the hospital's outpatients unit and postgraduate centre or to Omagh Health Centre.
Some of the most seriously hurt were flown by helicopter to Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
Spokesman Gerry Carson said helicopters were landing in the Royal's car park until late into the evening.
"At one stage we had to use the lights from police cars and ambulances for a helicopter to land," he said.
Laurence Rock, accident and emergency consultant at the Royal, rushed back from a holiday in Fermanagh to treat the victims.
He said the incident was "every bit as bad" as the last major incident he had been involved in - the Shankill Road bombing in 1993.
"All we can do is hope that this is going to be the end of it. There is nothing else we can do," he said.
Surgeons at the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen operated into Saturday night to treat the victims.
And they paid tribute to the staff at Sligo General Hospital who took the pressure off them by treating the casualties of an unrelated road traffic accident in Enniskillen on Saturday.
Martina Corrigan, hospital administrator, said the emergency plan - last needed on this scale in the aftermath of the Enniskillen bombing in 1987 - ran smoothly.
Staff volunteered to come on duty and Cavan General Hospital responded by sending anaesthetists, surgeons, nurses and medical supplies.
"Obviously our patients need to be looked after but the staff who came in on Saturday needed a break. So having extra nurses sent in from Cavan was a particular help," she said.
"Any amount of staff came into help. Everyone worked together and there was no hysteria.
"Everyone has pulled together. We had a job to do and we got on and did it."
Robert Sowney, accident and emergency charge nurse at Dungannon's South Tyrone Hospital, said the hospital put its emergency plan into operation as soon as the police called for extra help.
"This hospital has had its fair share (of incidents) over the past 30 years,obviously not in the same numbers but equally severe injuries," he said.
"It has stood us in good stead, because with that has come experience.
"But it doesn't take away from the fact that each atrocity is individually distressing for everyone concerned and difficult for staff to deal with."
Mr Sowney said the hardest thing for staff had been dealing with relatives of people still unaccounted for.
"You can deal with physical injuries and do something for them," he said.
"But people have been calling on the phone in tears and we can do nothing if we don't have any news of their relatives.
"It has been very distressing."
And a spokeswoman for Derry's Altnagelvin
Hospital, which treated 24 of the victims, said the hospital's emergency operation had gone very smoothly.
"Staff volunteered to come in and we were able to man three operating theatres," she said.
"The helicopter landings were all also very efficient."
By Rosie Uffindell
Social Affairs Reporter
HOSPITALS throughout the north immediately put their emergency action plans into operation as the scale of the incident emerged.
Hundreds of off-duty staff cut short their time off and some their holidays to volunteer to help treat the victims and counsel the bereaved.
Staff prioritised the injured and set up incident rooms to deal with worried relatives and media inquiries.
Helicopters were used to airlift some of the more critically ill patients to hospitals across the north.
And hospitals south of the border pitched in, offering both staff and medical supplies.
Social services staff said it was the biggest emergency they had ever had to cope with.
They said the "huge and harrowing task" of trying to inform relatives about their loved ones was being hampered by poor communications.
Mobile phones and telephone land-lines were unable to cope with the overload of calls and it was difficult to transfer information between hospitals.
Tyrone County Hospital surgeon Dominic Pinto said staff worked in "battlefield conditions" to tend the injured.
And colleague Glynis Henry said the hospital's response had been very much a team effort.
"Everyone is trying to see to the health and social needs of the population and those who have been injured," she said.
The injured were prioritised by staff to enable the most seriously injured to be treated first. Others were sent to the hospital's outpatients unit and postgraduate centre or to Omagh Health Centre.
Some of the most seriously hurt were flown by helicopter to Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
Spokesman Gerry Carson said helicopters were landing in the Royal's car park until late into the evening.
"At one stage we had to use the lights from police cars and ambulances for a helicopter to land," he said.
Laurence Rock, accident and emergency consultant at the Royal, rushed back from a holiday in Fermanagh to treat the victims.
He said the incident was "every bit as bad" as the last major incident he had been involved in - the Shankill Road bombing in 1993.
"All we can do is hope that this is going to be the end of it. There is nothing else we can do," he said.
Surgeons at the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen operated into Saturday night to treat the victims.
And they paid tribute to the staff at Sligo General Hospital who took the pressure off them by treating the casualties of an unrelated road traffic accident in Enniskillen on Saturday.
Martina Corrigan, hospital administrator, said the emergency plan - last needed on this scale in the aftermath of the Enniskillen bombing in 1987 - ran smoothly.
Staff volunteered to come on duty and Cavan General Hospital responded by sending anaesthetists, surgeons, nurses and medical supplies.
"Obviously our patients need to be looked after but the staff who came in on Saturday needed a break. So having extra nurses sent in from Cavan was a particular help," she said.
"Any amount of staff came into help. Everyone worked together and there was no hysteria.
"Everyone has pulled together. We had a job to do and we got on and did it."
Robert Sowney, accident and emergency charge nurse at Dungannon's South Tyrone Hospital, said the hospital put its emergency plan into operation as soon as the police called for extra help.
"This hospital has had its fair share (of incidents) over the past 30 years,obviously not in the same numbers but equally severe injuries," he said.
"It has stood us in good stead, because with that has come experience.
"But it doesn't take away from the fact that each atrocity is individually distressing for everyone concerned and difficult for staff to deal with."
Mr Sowney said the hardest thing for staff had been dealing with relatives of people still unaccounted for.
"You can deal with physical injuries and do something for them," he said.
"But people have been calling on the phone in tears and we can do nothing if we don't have any news of their relatives.
"It has been very distressing."
And a spokeswoman for Derry's Altnagelvin
Hospital, which treated 24 of the victims, said the hospital's emergency operation had gone very smoothly.
"Staff volunteered to come in and we were able to man three operating theatres," she said.
"The helicopter landings were all also very efficient."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0015
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.