Published: Friday, 20th August, 2010 4:31pm

Over 550 waiting for surgery in Tullamore

There are a total of 558 adults waiting longer than three months for surgery at Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore, an increase of 5% compared to the year before.

This is the fifth highest waiting list in the country, topped only by University Hospital Galway, the Mater, Tallaght and Letterkenny.

According to figures released by the National Treatment Purchase Fund for up to April of this year, there are 248 adults waiting three to six months for surgery, 237 waiting six to 12 months and 73 waiting over one year in Tullamore.

The biggest waiting list is for the orthopaedics department, with a total of 361 people waiting more than three months for surgery. The average wait for a hip replacement at the hospital is seven months, while hernia repairs are an average wait of ten months.

Meanwhile in the medical department (procedures that require treatment but not an operation), there are a total of 41 patients on the waiting list, in three departments; cardiology (10), general medicine (24) and nephrology (7). The majority are waiting in the three to six months category.

A total of 330 operations were suspended over the past year up to April, due to reasons such as "pregnancy" or personal reasons such as doing exams or holidays.

Overall, the median wait time for medical and surgical adult patients at Tullamore hospital is 2.8 months - in 15th place out of all 36 hospitals nationwide that have waiting lists.

There are a total of 141 children also on a waiting list for surgery at Tullamore, with the majority 102 waiting three to six months. A total of 138 of these children are waiting for ENT related surgeries. On average, a child can wait three months to have their tonsils removed.

According to the NRPF, the National Median Wait time for all patients is 2.5 months. A total of 611 patients still wait over 12 months for their procedures and almost half of these patients are waiting in three hospitals; Tallaght, Temple Street children's hospital, and the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore

Fine Gael TD and health spokesman Dr James Reilly claimed that the problem was due to a lack of beds and delays in discharging patients. Several hospitals across the country have had to close beds and wards over the summer, in order to stay in budget.

Back in June, 12 beds in the orthopaedic ward and one operating theatre were re-opened in Tullamore for the summer months to support an orthopaedic initiative, by the HSE.

The HSE is working with the National Treatment Purchase Fund on this summer initiative to cover the costs of a number of operations which will take place in the hospital. The backlog of patients waiting for treatment has increased since last summer, when the HSE took the decision to close a total of 32 beds and an operating suite to save money and remain under budget.