Patients presenting to hospital with acute appendicitis are often not operated on for several hours because no beds are available for them after surgery, it has been claimed by a leading figure in the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).
In the UK, National Health Service guidelines dictate that persons admitted to hospital with acute appendicitis must be operated on within six hours.
However, the vice-president of the Irish Medical Organisation, Asam Ishtiaq, said yesterday that many Irish hospitals are nowhere near meeting this target.
"In my experience there have been delays for more than 12 hours for simple things like appendicitis due to logistical difficulties like a lack of beds and delays in A&E," he said.
"I am also aware of certain cases in which individual practitioners have been sued by people as a result of delayed surgical operations," he said.
"There are unnecessary delays and it is unsafe and not in accordance with best practice," he added.
Mr Ishtiaq was speaking yesterday after the IMO published a position paper on what it feels should be done to solve overcrowding in A&E.
There were 368 patients on trolleys in A&E units across the State yesterday.
Elective surgery at Galway's University College Hospital, where there were 31 patients on trolleys, had to be cancelled. Two wards at the hospital were also closed for infection control.
The IMO wants bed capacity increased to ease the A&E crisis.
It also wants steps taken so that pressure placed on A&E departments by excessive alcohol consumption can be reduced.These include an outright ban on alcohol advertising, a ban on the sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol suppliers, better enforcement of the law in respect of underage drinking and a reduction in the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers from 80mg to 50mg.
Furthermore it wants primary care services improved. In particular it wants better access to diagnostic facilities for GPs.
The union criticised plans for private minor-injury units, saying they would not result in a single patient being taken off trolleys in public hospitals.
Such plans, it said, would represent a sop to affluent areas.