80 operations cancelled daily over bed shortages

MORE THAN 80 operations and other scheduled procedures are cancelled every day in hospitals around the country because of shortages of beds and staff, according to health experts.

Latest figures from the Health Service Executive (HSE) reveal that in the six-month period from January to June this year, elective surgical, medical or diagnostic treatments scheduled by appointment were postponed at least 10,368 times in hospitals around the country.

Last night, consultants claimed they expected postponement levels to be higher due to pressure on A&E wards and staff shortages in hospitals.

Elective procedures covers all non-emergency surgery, from heart bypass operations to hip replacements, in addition to scans and other tests.

Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association assistant secretary general Donal Duffy said there had been consistent pressure on A&E departments this year which had increased pressure on available beds elsewhere.

“If you have a bed available, then A&E have first call on it,” he said.

“Emergencies get priority and everything else gets sidelined. Added to that, you can have staff shortages, especially if qualified personnel are not on hand.”

He said consultants would have expected the number of postponements to have been higher, “especially in major urban areas where patients in A&Es are on trolleys”.

“If someone is scheduled for treatment and it is postponed, it causes huge anxiety for the patient and may compromise their care.”

The HSE figures show the highest number of postponements were in the Mater Hospital, Beaumont Hospital and Connolly Hospital in Dublin, where there were 4,220 postponements altogether.

In St Vincent’s and St Columcille’s Hospital in Dublin, there were just 292 postponements.

Meanwhile, St James’s, Naas General, and Adelaide and Meath Hospital had 2,786 postponements.

The figures relate to in-patient cancellations only and include both surgical and non-surgical postponements.

In the southern area of the HSE, procedures were postponed 1,100 times in the six-month period.

The smallest number of postponements was in the area covering Co Limerick, Co Clare and Nenagh in Co Tipperary, where there were 17 postponements.

The HSE said elective procedures can often be postponed at the request of patients. It also claimed that when an elective procedure is postponed, it is directly rescheduled, often to within a few days of the original appointment.

Fine Gael Health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey questioned the disparity between some of the hospital networks and claimed the figures were “the tip of the iceberg”.

He said previous comments by HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm that there were enough beds in acute hospitals needed revising. “It is quite obvious we do need more beds.”