A teenager from Donegal travelled to Dublin to have vital surgery to remove a malignant brain tumour – only to be told hours before the procedure that she can’t have the surgery and must go home to Donegal.
The sixteen year old girl was sent down to Beaumount Hospital last Friday to undergo her scheduled brain surgery.
Her mother said; “She fasted and was then sent home to Donegal and now she is still waiting. We were promised July. Then August. Then September 1st. The consultant’s hands are tied because of the system. What am I supposed to do?#8221;
Beaumount’s neuroscience unit
The teenager had been close enough to getting the surgery that she had been fasting, after mentally preparing herself up for the procedure. This poignant as the surgery would mark the start of a recovery for the young woman; only to be told that she can’t have your surgery due to a system flaw – for the third time in recent weeks.
Her mother stressed that she is not by any means criticizing the medics, but something must be changed within the system.
Distressed families of patients say that the service “is stretched to breaking point”
Many have been turned away due to a lack of beds and theatre access in recent weeks, and the hospital is so under resourced that management can’t even plan into October.
At the end of last week, there were no available beds for the nine patients scheduled to have surgery to remove malignant tumours.
This morning on Today FM, discussion revolved around the incompetency of Beaumount Hospital to cope with the volume of patients requiring neurological care. Beaumount Hospital in Dublin is where many are sent for neurological treatment due to their specialist panel of consultants. The vast majority of their patients are referred there for specialist treatment that may be unavailable at their local hospital.