Bed shortages the main cause of cancelled operations
Patients' groups are hitting out at the Minister for Health following new figures showing that almost 22,000 operations were cancelled at 34 Irish hospitals last year.
Reports this morning say the figure was obtained following requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.
The reports say the reasons given for the delays include patients not turning up, a lack of theatre time, staff shortages and the winter vomiting bug.
However, bed shortages were by far the biggest cause.
The Health Service Executive has played down the figures, saying they represent just 3.4% of the total number of operations last year.
It also says the affected operations were only postponed for a matter of days, often because emergency cases had to be prioritised.
However, the lobby group Patients Together says Health Minister Mary Harney needs to take responsibility for the situation and accept that the biggest problem facing hospitals is a huge shortage of beds.
