Patients in 90s suffer as staff cuts delay vital operations

Two patients in their 90s in need of operations could not be dealt with at the Mid-West Regional Hospital due to staff cuts, the hospital confirmed last night.

A Limerick man aged 91, admitted to hospital on Sunday with a broken hip, was still waiting to be operated on last night due to a shortage of nursing staff and a closed theatre. A 93-year-old woman taken to the hospital on Wednesday, also with a broken hip, was not operated on until Monday for the same reason.

A staff shortage means one of the two acute theatres in the hospital closes at weekends and, last Friday, a crisis arose when a road traffic patient needed multiple operations. This led to a logjam which resulted in the woman having to wait five days for major surgery.