Concern over patient care at Nenagh Hospital

Close to 180 procedures for which patients had appointments were cancelled at Nenagh Hospital in the first three months of this year, Labour Party TD Alan Kelly has revealed.

Deputy Kelly, who submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has been informed that a total of 708 scheduled procedures have been cancelled in the first quarter of this year in the UHL group of hospitals.

Deputy Kelly said the bottom line is that patient care in the region is not up to acceptable standards.

“This demonstrates the real issues that the people of the Mid West and North Tipperary face when getting scheduled care because of the ongoing issues in UHL hospital,” he said.

He revealed that 176 scheduled procedures were cancelled in Nenagh as opposed to 37 in Ennis hospital. This disparity between the two hospitals needed to be explained.

“These cancellations cause issues for all the patients affected and unfortunately may lead to a more negative medical outcome for those patients, which isn’t acceptable,” said Deputy Kelly.

He said the root of the problem goes back to the record overcrowding in UHL and “the dramatic negative impact that is having for everyone in the Mid West, which has never been grappled with by this Government and as a consequence the people of the region and North Tipperary continue to suffer.”