Consultants in the Mid-West warn cancelling operations at UHL is ‘not the solution’

CONSULTANTS in the Mid-West have warned that the cancellation of scheduled appointments and operations should not be the go-to solution for the overcrowding issue.

It has been reported that there have been 3,500 appointments and operations cancelled at hospitals in UL Hospitals Group between December 2022 and January 2023.

In January 2023, there were 2,095 hospital appointments and operations cancelled at hospitals across the Mid-West, 1,252 of which were at UHL. This compares with 1,435 cancellations across the ULHG in December 2022.

The IHCA's analysis comes as UHL management confirmed that the number of people seeking emergency treatment reached 270 in one day, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

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The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has urged health service management to significantly increase bed capacity and maximise operating theatre usage across the UL Hospitals Group to address the repeated cancellation of hospital appointments.

Admissions through UHL ED account for 83% of inpatient bed days, leaving limited capacity for the scheduled surgical procedures, which are frequently cancelled to accommodate spikes in demand for emergency care.

Consultants say the overcrowding crisis and increase in cancellations are being compounded by a severe lack of adequate acute bed capacity.

Limerick also has one of the lowest number of consultants both at a hospital and Hospital Group level.

Colin Peirce, IHCA, Consultant General and surgeon at UHL, said, “staff on the ground have never experienced such sustained levels of stress and moral injury from not being able to provide the care that their patients desperately need.”