21st October 2020
![](https://southerntrust.hscni.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Web-Ronan-McKeown.jpg)
A Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon based in Craigavon Area Hospital has urged the public to slow down when driving and take care at all times to help reduce the risk of injuries as hospitals are experiencing extreme pressures due to the rapid rise of COVID-19 in the community.
Mr McKeown said: “Currently, our hospitals are rightly gearing up for the latest coronavirus surge and we will not have the resources to provide our normal high level of service within orthopaedics. If people do injure themselves, we may not be able to offer them the surgery they need at this time which may unfortunately lead to long term health consequences for those individuals.”
Ronan and his colleagues working in Trauma and Orthopaedics are well used to treating patients with a wide variety of injuries related to: road traffic collisions, accidents in the home, sports activities and much more. Many of these injuries could be reduced if people slowed down a bit when driving or avoided doing household tasks which may put them at risk of injury and needing medical attention.
Mr McKeown said: “More accidents happen in the home than anywhere else, so I would encourage everyone to be mindful of the dangers in and around the home. Ladders, steps, cables and power tools are all potentially dangerous at the best of times, so we would really urge people not to take unnecessary risks and to delay any jobs which could wait.”
He added: “We know that reducing speed by even 10 mile an hour will significantly reduce the risk of a road traffic collision and will reduce the risk of injury in the event of a collision. By cutting your speed you will be helping yourself and others and taking pressure off the health service at this most challenging time. To limit the spread of the virus and reduce the risk to our patients, the public and our staff, we need to minimise the number of people in and around our hospitals as far as possible.”