Fianna Fáil TD for Mayo Lisa Chambers says management at Merlin Park Hospital must take action to ensure that orthopaedic surgeries resume as soon as possible. Procedures have been cancelled because of a leak in the roof of the theatre building.
Deputy Chambers commented; “While I appreciate that surgeries had to be cancelled as a result of the structural damage to the theatre building, management at the hospital must now ensure that alternative measures are put in place so that these procedures can be carried out without delay.
“There are already 940 people on the waiting list for procedures – almost 100 of these patients are waiting over a year - and this number will escalate further unless alternative theatre spaces are found.
“The cancellation of these operations is particularly inconvenient for patients in Mayo, who would have to have taken time off work, or who had made arrangements with their family to travel to Galway for their procedure.
“For those who have been waiting more than a year, this latest delay will be extremely frustrating, and may even impact on their treatment plan and outcome. For every day that operations are cancelled, more patients are affect and the longer the waiting lists grow.
“Merlin Park management claims that they are 'exploring options to facilitate the resumption of some parts of the elective orthopaedic service at UHG and also a temporary modular theatre facility at MPUH'.
“We need assurances from hospital bosses that these modular theatres will not become a permanent feature and that the repair works on the roof of the existing theatre building is carried out without delay so that a full theatre schedule can be reinstated as soon as possible.
“I am also calling on the hospital to keep patients informed and updated on the situation. People who have had their operations cancelled have already been inconvenienced, and they do not need the additional stress of being kept in the dark about a timeline for their surgery.
“It is extremely important that the necessary works to repair the structural damage is undertaken without delay so that the number of cancelled procedures can be minimized”.
