Galway hospital cancels surgery

All non-elective surgery at University College Hospital Galway has been cancelled for a second consecutive day.

The surgeries were cancelled due to an “unprecedented number” of patients in the emergency department, the hospital said today.

An escalation policy - which is in place to support the emergency department when it gets very busy – was enacted, and in addition to the cancellation of non-urgent surgery, patients were transferred to a separate medical assessment unit.

Hospital consultants were contacted to review their patients and to discharge patients where possible, the hospital said.

Apologising to patients for the delays, the hospital said it “cannot predict the number of patients presenting but we endeavour to assess and admit these patients to the appropriate wards as a matter of urgency”.

At 8am today, there were 19 patients awaiting admission.

“We do of course, regret that any patient has to wait an undue length of time to be admitted to hospital,” the hospital added.

The emergency department at the hospital has been under increased pressure in recent months due to swine flu and an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug.

The presence of the Norovirus over the past two months has affected up to five wards at times.