Galway hospitals cancel 10,000 operations in last three years
Galway’s two main public hospitals cancelled more than 10,000 patient operations in the past three and a half years because of staff shortages and overcrowding.
Meanwhile, a separate set of figures reveals almost 25,000 people are waiting for treatment on Galway University Hospitals outpatients’ appointments list.
The damning statistics led to accusations management of the health service in Galway has gone from ‘bad to worse’.
Saolta, which runs University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park, confirmed it cancelled some 1,290 operations at the city hospitals in the first six months of this year.
This is on top of the 3,586 procedures it cancelled last year; the 2,993 it cancelled in 2014; and some 2,258 operations that did not go-ahead as planned the previous year.
Saolta revealed that it cancelled a total of 10,127 procedures since 2013.
On top of that, a further 10,383 operations were cancelled and deferred at the request of patients, and not the hospital.
The figures were released to City Councillor Padraig Conneely (FG), who said the statistics were deplorable.
“Are you not embarrassed by these figures . . . This is deplorable. How can you stand over this situation,” he asked Saolta management.
“These are real people. They are human beings. People’s lives. Real people,” he added.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.