Chronic pain patient will have to wait five years for operation in Galway

The Dáil has heard the harrowing details of a 27-year-old man who is suffering chronic pain following an accident – and will have to wait up to five-and-a-half years for surgery because of orthopaedic waiting lists in Galway.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar accepted that waiting lists in Galway are worse than other parts of the country after hearing about the man who cannot lift his young children, cannot drive and can hardly walk.

He was responding in the Dáil to comments made by Galway East TD Seán Canney, who told him of the married father of two.

Deputy Canney explained: “Unfortunately, he had an accident and he is waiting for treatment. He tried to continue to work but he had to give up the work five weeks ago. He was getting some painkillers for the pain. He was told when he was getting the injections that they would last up to six months. The pain left him for five and a half weeks.

“The prospect before him is 18 months waiting for an assessment. Then he will have to wait another four years for surgery. That is what he has been told by the hospital.

“This young man cannot lift his children, he cannot drive and he can hardly walk. That is his current position. He is relying on his mother to bring him to the doctor and relies on his father to help around the house.

“He has a mortgage to pay, which he is struggling to do. This is not somebody who is looking for a handout or for something soft.

“This is what is happening with the services in the orthopaedic unit in Galway. There are massive delays.

“The system was creaking before Covid but it has been further scarred by the effects of the pandemic. It is important that we get the health service right. We need infrastructure, additional beds, additional staff – when I say “staff” I mean nurses – and functioning accident and emergency units. We also need to put in place the necessary services our people deserve. We need to dispense with these codes for public procurement and appraisals for every project we have to undertake,” said Deputy Canney.

The Tánaiste said that while he did not have specific details on orthopaedic waiting lists in Galway, he acknowledged there are far too many people waiting too longer for the operations they need in Galway and in all parts of the country.

“I am aware that Galway is the specialist tertiary centre for a significant swathe of the country. Waiting lists in Galway are comparatively worse than in other parts of the country, but there has been a lot of investment in recent years.

“There is now more than 4,000 staff between University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park University Hospital; that is a 12% increase since this Government was formed,” he said.

He went on to express “enormous frustration” at the slow progress being made planning the new permanent Emergency Department at UHG.

“We are very keen to get the new Emergency Department, and the new maternity and paediatric units, into planning as soon as possible. I have spoken directly to the CEO of the HSE about this in the past couple of weeks. I share the enormous frustration that the project is progressing so slowly. I will take a personal interest in it,” said Mr Varadkar.