Elective surgeries in Irish hospitals drop by more than 100,000

There has been been a drop of over 100,000 in the number of elective surgeries being carried out in Irish hospitals.

New figures released under parliamentary questions show there were 187,000 elective discharges in 2012. However, that was down to just over 86,000 last year.

As part of measures to deal with overcrowding non-urgent operations are postponed to allow hospitals provide beds for patients coming in through emergency departments.

Fianna Fáil TD Jack Chambers said these new figures prove the system is failing.

“There's been a massive haemorrhaging of output and elective procedures across the hospital system in Ireland and it’s a direct contribution from the HSE’s flawed policy of cancelling elective procedures, even when there is hospital overcrowding,” Mr Chambers said.

“What’s bizarre with the current figures is that despite increased funding over the last couple of year, there has been a continued drop in hospital output.”