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.

The hospital last night apologised to the elderly patients and their families. A spokesman said: “We unreservedly apologise for what happened.” The spokesman said the demand for emergency and trauma surgery last weekend was unprecedented and unpredictable.

“Due to the moratorium on staff recruitment, we only have one emergency theatre available at weekends. We need two emergency theatres at weekends but we cannot staff them — we have six vacancies for theatre nurses. The situation at the weekend had a knock-on effect on the theatre list over the following days.”

There were 18 patients on the list for trauma surgery at 8am on Monday, and seven orthopaedic emergencies.

The spokesman said: “It is difficult for people to appreciate that there can be more urgent cases than a 91-year-old with a broken hip but, unfortunately, this was the situation and all theatre time was prioritised on the basis of clinical need.

“The first patient received her surgery on Monday and the second patient is due to go to theatre today.

“We have apologised and explained our difficulties to this patient and his family. He is receiving intravenous fluids and all necessary pain relief.”

Sinn Féin’s Martin Ferris said he had been contacted by both families. He said: “This is a disgrace. This is a further indictment of the health service. This is not the fault of the hospital staff, but the minister and those who are supposed to be running the health service.”