Trend of operation cancellations alarming, says Hayes

NEARLY 3,000 operations were cancelled in April and May, new Health Service Executive (HSE) figures revealed last night.

Fine Gael health spokesman Brian Hayes warned the 2,837 figure for the two months pointed to a year-end total of about 15,000.

“This worryingly high figure indicates that the trend where 40,000 operations were cancelled between 2004 and mid-2006 is continuing.

“The HSE figures suggest that 2007 will repeat the trend shown in 2004, when 15,106 operations were cancelled, and 2005, when the number was 15,610.

“In the same period an average of almost 200 patients were on trolleys each day, according to the Irish Nurses’ Organisation figures. This is an alarming number and shows that the lack of capacity in the health services continues to fuel bottlenecks which are hurting patients,” he said.

Mr Hayes said money must urgently be diverted to frontline services.

“Despite Government promises to the contrary, counter-efficiency seems to be the order of the day in the health service.

“A burgeoning backroom staff is failing to deliver improvements for patients while under capacity in beds and frontline staff is continuing to fuel the health crisis.

“Those languishing on a trolley or waiting in pain while their operation is cancelled know this all too well,” he said.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that while cancellations were regrettable, they amounted to a very small percentage of the total carried out and some would be postponed at the patient’s request.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny warned that the Government needed to do more to ease immigration pressures.

He said the creation of an integration minister’s post did not go far enough as it would not be able to co-ordinate action across Government departments.

He added a construction industry downturn could spark problems in this area.

Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe called for a bipartisan approach to a crackdown on Ireland’s murder rate.