Over 270 appointments cancelled at Cavan hospital in four months

A total of 277 appointments at Cavan General Hospital were cancelled in the first four months of this year.

Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan, Pauline Tully has raised concern over the cancellation figures, which were released to the party's spokesperson on health.

Deputy Tully said “dysfunction” across the health service is driving a “vicious cycle” of overcrowding, cancellations, and long waits, and that a multi-annual plan is needed to expand hospital capacity and develop a sustainable workforce.

Nationally more than 85,000 hospital appointments were cancelled up to the end of April across the state, according to the details released to Information released to Deputy David Cullinane.

This included more than 24,000 cancellations in April alone, and across the four months 277 cancelled appointments at Cavan General.

“This is happening because Government has not made the necessary investments in hospital care or in community care,” contended Deputy Tully, who claims there is a deficit of 1,000 acute inpatient beds in hospitals, and more than 6,000 people waiting for home support at present.

“The health service is not delivering the right care in the right place at the right time. We are seeing this across primary care now, with longer waiting times for GPs and dentistry, which will lead to worse health outcomes.”