Still idling, surgeon who wants to work

0 Comments | Daily Mail (London, England), The, Dec 4, 2009

Byline: Harry Walsh

SURGEON Peter O'Rourke had complained he was earning e200,000 for doing next to nothing, because HSE cuts had stopped him performing routine hip operations - even though patients were desperate for surgery.

In response, Mary Harney advised the senior orthopaedic consultant to fill his time by taking extra outpatients' clinics. Frustrated at doing nothing, he did exactly that, but warned it would simply generate more patients in need of surgery.

A month on, the surgeon's waiting list has doubled, as he predicted - but he still cannot operate.

Mr O'Rourke told last month that cutbacks were preventing him from doing hip operations, meaning that, over a two-month period, he must be idle for six days instead of performing routine surgery at Letterkenny General Hospital in Co. Donegal.

The Health Minister suggested publicly he should take holidays or find extra outpatient clinics - and she was backed by Professor Bren-dan Drumm. Professor Drumm, who is chief executive of the HSE visited the hospital and conceded that funding was a problem and, in the short term, joint replacements would have to be cancelled. He also suggested the consultant should do extra work in outpatients.

However, Mr O'Rourke replied, in an article published in The Irish Mail on Sunday, that this would only increase the waiting lists.

And that is exactly what happened.

Yesterday, he said: 'I followed her advice, taking a leave day and arranging with staff in the outpatients department to run an extra clinic. As a result of our efforts 52 patients were seen, with the consequence that the number on my service waiting for joint replacements doubled to 62.' Furthermore, the nursing administration at the hospital has been criticised by senior HSE management for allowing him to run an extra clinic, as two extra nurses had to be given an extra ten hours' pay. 'I have also been criticised by the management and it has been indicated to me and my colleagues that under no circumstances will I we be allowed to run further extra clinics.' Non-emergency joint-replacement surgery at the hospital was suspended from November 1 to save money, although operations are to resume in the new year.

Mr O'Rourke said: 'Regrettably, I still am not in a position to tell patients when they might expect to have their surgery carried out.' Patients, colleagues and Donegal TD Jim McDaid, a local GP, have all thrown their support behind the surgeon. But hospital manager Sean Murphy could give no indication that Mr O'Rourke's patients would now get the operations they need.

Instead, he told how: 'Mr Peter O'Rourke has in engaged extensively with the media in order to express his frustration and dissatisfaction that the decisions of the hospital with regard to his service delivery have impacted upon his clinical practice'.

'The hospital management has stated to Mr O'Rourke that they would be happy to support and indeed facilitate any additional outpatient clinics being undertaken by him where these can be done within the existing staffing levels within the hospital,' he added.

'Unfortunately, the hospital management has had to remind Mr O'Rourke that it does not have the money to employ additional staff to run additional clinics - if this was the case there would not have been the need to restrict orthopaedic theatre activity in the first instance.' Comment - Page 14 reporter@dailymail.ie

CAPTION(S):

Reluctant idler: Peter O'Rourke