A man has spoken of his frustration after having a day surgery operation cancelled for the second time on the day the procedure was due to take place.
Full-time student Tony Mac Ruairi said he is now completely frustrated at the lack of communication between administration and medical staff at Letterkenny General Hospital.
Mr Mac Ruairi, from Ranafast, was due to have the surgery yesterday, exactly a month after the planned operation was first cancelled.
He spoke earlier in the day on the Barrscéalta programme on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta about his bitter disappointment at the outcome of yet another wasted journey from his home in West Donegal.
On February 4th, he was on a trolley ready to be taken to an operating theatre when the procedure was cancelled.
He was told by a surgeon that the operation would go ahead yesterday.
But Mr Mac Ruairi told Donegal Daily “When I arrived they claimed I had been informed ten days ago that my operation had been cancelled. I certainly didn’t receive any notification.
“One person told me that he didn’t know why I had brought a bag with me as I certainly wouldn’t be seen.
“It appears to me that our health system is going backwards instead of forwards. It appears that medical staff as well as administration staff appear to just accept the system is broke and we can’t fix it,” he said.
Mr Mac Ruairi revealed that he had to make arrangements for his children to be left and collected to and from both national and secondary school.
“I had to cancel social commitments in my community as well as to my family. It’s that side of things that isn’t taken into account when the system breaks down like this,” he said.
Ironically Mr Mac Ruairi has been told his operation has been rescheduled for April 1st.
“It’s certainly ironic that this is the date it has been rescheduled for. I’ll be making contact with the hospital a couple of weeks in advance. But who is to say it won’t be cancelled again,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said they do not comment on individual cases.
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