Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not know exactly why surgery was cancelled in Ennis during that period. The Minister for Health is beside me and has said he will check that out. It could be that the hospital was simply full of medical patients. That happens, particularly during winter when the surgical wards have to be given over to medical patients because so many people come in with pneumonia, respiratory infections and other things. That is why surgery is sometimes cancelled and it is one of the reasons we want to develop surgical hubs and elective hospitals.

The Deputy will know what is happening in Croom, for example, where there is elective and managed care only. One of the risks of using the medical assessment units more in Ennis and Nenagh hospitals is that if more medical patients are taken to those hospitals, surgical beds may be taken up by medical patients, thus requiring surgeries to be cancelled. That is something we always have to factor in and is one of the reasons we are moving towards surgical hubs and dedicated beds.

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