Thousands of surgeries called off to cope with overcrowding

Health Minister Leo Varadkar has conceded thousands of planned surgeries were cancelled in January in an effort to cope with the daily crisis of overcrowding in emergency departments (EDs).

In an interview on RTÉ radio, Mr Varadkar said he couldn’t give “an exact number yet” but that it was “a couple of thousand”.

Defending the cancellations, he said it was necessary because “patient safety comes first, and given the level of overcrowding, it had to be done”. To make up lost ground, Mr Varadkar said they will be looking at ditching the traditional practice of closing wards during the summer “to catch up on elective activity”.