Pressure on Emergency Departments leads to surgery cancellations at another hospital

It comes after Cork University Hospital and the Mater Hospital in Dublin took the same decision yesterday.

Flu season has led to increasing pressure on hospitals around the country – with St James in Dublin, University Hospital Limerick, University Hospital Galway and Sligo Regional Hospital also experiencing high volumes of patients in their Emergency Departments.

The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar says the cancellation of elective surgeries is part of measures agreed with nurses to ease pressure in EDs.

However, President of the Irish Medical Organisation, Dr Ray Walley, says these measures have a knock-on effect on GPs.