Consultants blast ‘catastrophic’ waiting list for surgery

Galway City Tribune – A team of 10 consultants has described the orthopaedic surgery waiting list at Merlin Park as “catastrophic” – warning the situation is becoming “unbearable” for the 2,000 people left languishing.

The surgeons have called for the Health Minister to personally intervene in the crisis which they believe “has become too big for management to address”.

In a letter to Minister Simon Harris and Saolta University Health Care Group CEO Maurice Power, Fergus Byrne, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon (on behalf of a group of ten orthopaedic surgeons) at Merlin Park, said that patients are clinically worsening while they wait for surgery.

“This situation is becoming unbearable for the patients who are on the waiting list and are clinically worsening as they wait to be admitted for surgery,” the letter reads.

The waiting list continues to grow because the orthopaedic operating theatre closed in 2017 due to a leaking roof, and plans for a new modular theatre building appear to have collapsed.

This week, it emerged that the HSE has withdrawn from its contract with the company selected to supply the theatres, which will create further delays for vital surgery.
This is a preview only. To read the consultants’ letter and the latest on the modular theatres, the proposed new Emergency Department at UHG and Saolta chief Maurice Power’s legal action, see week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.