‘Palpable sense of relief’ in Wexford as no fire casualties reported, says TD

There is a “palpable sense of relief” in Wexford after no casualties were reported following a major hospital fire, TDs were told.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin thanked emergency services for responding to a blaze that broke out at a Wexford hospital on Wednesday afternoon, warning that the implications of such a “disastrous” blaze could have been worse.

A helpline has been set up for patients and families of patients, many of whom have been transferred to other hospitals for care. Some patients remain in the hospital and continue to receive treatment.

Raising the issue during Leaders’ Questions, Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty said it was important that communication between the hospital and families was maintained.

“As we know, it may be some time before full service resumes at Wexford and appointments and procedures have necessarily been cancelled and until it’s safe for them to proceed,” he said.

“The disruption will undoubtably cause much distress and anxiety to people in Wexford and indeed to the surrounding region.”

He asked that families were kept fully informed, particularly the families of people who had been transported to hospitals some distance from Wexford.

Mr Martin responded: “I think we’re all very shocked at the potential impact of such a disastrous fire in one of our major acute hospitals.

“And if you stand back and think of what the implications of that could have been, I think we owe an extraordinary debt of service to all of the essential services, the fire service in particular, the civil defence who got there quickly and marshalled their resources expertly to reduce the impacts of the fire.

“And then everybody working in the hospital and within the Health Service Executive who managed to take all 207 patients under very stressful circumstances – and no fatality.”

He added: “A disaster in one level has been averted in the sense of no loss of life and injury.

“It’s quite incredible to comprehend the degree to which the fire services, the first responders, the ambulance services, they all got together quickly to prevent disaster from unfolding in terms of human fatality and injury as a result of this fire.”

Former Labour leader and Wexford TD Brendan Howlin told TDs there was “a palpable sense of relief in Wexford this morning”.

He said that what could have been a “historic tragedy was averted by the calm, dedicated professionalism of the emergency services in Wexford”.

He asked the Government to commit to continuing healthcare services for the Wexford area, and for the patients who were evacuated, that there was a “seamless and uninterrupted way of ensuring their medical charts are available”.

Mr Martin said the Government would respond “with clarity, with commitment and with resources” to make sure patients were accommodated and health services for the south-east area continued once an assessment had been carried out of what was needed.

“It’s just incredible that our services work so well,” Mr Martin said.

“So I think yes, our response has to match that.”

He said that he hoped “from the ashes of this fire” the hospital would be rebuilt to create “a 21st century facility in Wexford”.