LATEST: Outpatient appointments and elective procedures to proceed at Limerick hospitals

THE UL Hospitals Group is advising patients that outpatient appointments and elective procedures will go ahead as scheduled in the majority of cases on Monday.

This applies to University Hospital Limerick, St John's Hospital, University Maternity Hospital Limerick, Ennis Hospital and Nenagh Hospital.

In a brief statement, a spokesperson for the group advised that patients should attend for their appointment or procedure unless contacted directly by the hospital and advised otherwise.

"The Emergency Department at UHL continues to operate 24-7 but is very busy.  Members of the public are reminded to consider all care options and only attend the ED in an emergency. Non urgent patients may experience significant delays.  Injury Units are operating in Ennis Hospital and Nenagh Hospital and are open from 8am to 8pm and St John’s Hospital from 8am to 7pm," she said.

The Maternity Emergency Unit is available 24-7 and the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit continues to operate an appointment only service.

Following yesterday's cyber attack on the HSE's IT systems, patients are being advised to pay attention to updates asservices are likely to be further disrupted early next week.   

Updates on service disruptions will be posted to the HSE Service Disruption Website  and on Twitter at @ulhospitals and @hselive.

Meanwhile, a temporary phone number for University Hospital Limerick also remains in place as the cyber attack has impacted communications systems across the Mid West region. The number of 061 482119.

The UL Hospitals Group is apologising to patients who are experiencing delays and disruptions to our service.