Chemo and dialysis among treatments cancelled due to record hospital overcrowding
IHCA president Robert Landers warned that important treatments are making way for emergency day care: 'Regrettably, in the short term, waiting lists are likely to deteriorate further.' Picture: ihca.ie
Chemotherapy and dialysis are among some of the treatments being cancelled as the country's hospitals grapple with record overcrowding, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has warned.
Cancellations to make room for emergency care have seen hospital waiting lists balloon by an additional 9,000 patients since December. The hospitals were directed by HSE CEO Bernard Gloster to avoid holding routine surgeries during the start of the year as patient numbers were set to spiral at emergency departments.
On Friday, some 442 beds usually used for routine patients were being used by emergency patients instead, according to the HSE. These are patients admitted through emergency departments around the country.
Overall 551 patients were without a bed yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The IHCA is predicting the knock-on effect of cancellations will continue, with people in line for hip operations, eye, nose & throat care or dermatology forced to wait longer.
IHCA president Rob Landers warned:
Prof Landers said this is “due to the cancellation of many outpatient appointments, inpatient admissions and day case procedures, including chemotherapy and dialysis, due to the record overcrowding we are currently experiencing at many hospitals.”
He urged the Government to fulfil a promise to fund treatment for patients waiting more than three months on inpatient and day case lists.
New data shows 877,700 people on all hospital waiting lists by the end of January, an increase of 8,455 people in one month, the IHCA said.
Data published by National Treatment Purchase Fund shows 86,288 patients waiting for inpatient or day case treatment, up 533 on December:
- At Cork University Hospital some 220 people have waited longer than 18 months in this category, with 1,647 waiting any length of time;
- At University Hospital Limerick just seven people have waiting longer than 18 months with 3,050 waiting any length of time;
- At University Hospital Waterford 767 people have waited longer than 18 months, with 5,619 waiting any length of time.
Prof Landers called on the health minister to also deliver a promised 1,500 additional beds across 15 hospitals. He added:
The HSE previously said their hospitals provide over 3.4m outpatient appointments with over 600,000 people admitted annually.
Over 1m day-case operations are carried out along with rising numbers of emergency appointments.
The IHCA acknowledged the high rate of work but said concerns remain for their patients.
“Despite treating significantly more patients than planned last year, the three main waiting lists only decreased by a modest 3% in 2023 due to a higher-than-expected level of patient demand,” the doctors said.
