HSE hospital group update on Portlaoise hospital's response to Covid-19 Reporter: '); '); The HSE's Dublin Midland Hospital Group (DMHG) has thanked staff and the community in a statement in which it delivers an update on how Portlaoise hospital has and continues to respond nearly a year into the Covid-19 pandemic. It says that in late February 2020, NPHET reported the first Irish case of COVID-19, the gravity of which was not appreciated or fully understood. However, it said hospitals responded. "All hospitals mobilised very quickly to shore up capacity, redeploy and re-prioritise. This was done at an extraordinary pace, flexibility and resilience. Services were adapted and the unknown was truly embraced in one of the most extraordinary difficult years for Irish health services," said the DMHG.