Patients’ surgeries cancelled again

Four patients due to undergo joint replacement surgery at Letterkenny General Hospital had operations cancelled for the second time in a week because of a protocol designed to reduce emergency department (ED) overcrowding.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Peter O’Rourke has been forced to cancel his theatre list each Wednesday for the past three weeks because hospitals are obliged by ministerial directive to cancel elective surgery when ED overcrowding reaches certain levels.

However, even though there were five empty beds on the orthopaedic ward last Wednesday, none could be used to take patients off trolleys because of the high risk of cross-infection to orthopaedic patients, Mr O’Rourke said.