A round-up of today's health news in brief
Mother angry over cancelled surgery in Cork
The mother of a baby who was due to undergo eye surgery at Cork University Hospital (CUH) this week has expressed concern over having to take the infant to Dublin instead after the operation in Cork was cancelled at short notice.
Karen Roche, from Castlemartyr in Cork, said her daughter Emma, who has Down syndrome, had surgery on her left eye to remove cataracts and to insert a lens last month. She was due to have the same on her right eye tomorrow, but due to renovations at a theatre at CUH the operation was cancelled late last week. As the surgery is urgent she was given an appointment to have it done at Temple Street in Dublin tomorrow instead.
However, she is worried it will be a different surgeon doing the operation and about having to travel up to Dublin for aftercare.
She was told, she said, the cancellation at CUH was due to the removal of equipment from one theatre to make way for the centralisation of breast cancer services. The scheduling of patients’ operations should have been considered first, she said.
The HSE said the eye equipment was being moved from one theatre to another, and it was anticipated it would be ready in the new theatre by December 1st.
Bons Secours admissions up 7%
The Bon Secours group said yesterday there had been a 7 per cent increase in total admissions across its businesses last year, despite the economic downturn.
The not-for-profit group launched its annual report for 2008 yesterday. Its chief executive, Pat Lyons, said it showed an improved performance across all departments “with day admissions, diagnostic radiology and operating theatre activity all showing significant increases”.
However, he warned that the climate would be difficult next year, and tight control must be kept on costs. “As the full weight of the recession is being felt, there will be an impact on the number of people with private health insurance.”
The Bon Secours Health System has hospitals in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Tralee, and employs more than 2,000 staff.
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