PATIENTS IN need of urgent surgery after accidents are having to wait 48 hours or more to get into theatre at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda, it has emerged.
Five orthopaedic surgeons at the hospital have complained about the delay to "trauma patients" being treated at weekends, and have told management it could affect patient outcomes.
In a letter to the hospital manager on February 3rd, which has been seen by The Irish Times, the doctors said the hospital's trauma theatre service was inadequate.
It said on one Saturday recently there were 15 patients on the trauma theatre list, one of whom had been waiting for surgery for more than 48 hours, and four patients who had been waiting more than 24 hours "for their urgent operative trauma care".
They said not all of those on the list could be operated on that day even though surgery continued until 9.30pm.
The letter noted that one patient with an unstable ankle joint injury "despaired of waiting and took his own discharge against medical advice".
The doctors said the workload in the orthopaedic trauma unit in Drogheda increased by 36 per cent between 2003 and 2006; they called for "ring-fenced" theatre time for trauma surgery at the hospital at weekends.
The hospital has five theatres, two of which are open at the weekends - one exclusively for emergency Caesarean sections and one for emergency trauma surgery and emergency general surgery.
A Health Service Executive spokeswoman said this ensured that "a safe service can be provided to obstetric patients requiring emergency C sections and other emergency patients inclusive of general and orthopaedic surgery".
She stressed that orthopaedic surgeons in Drogheda had access to trauma theatres on Saturdays and Sundays.