Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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542. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients from Tallaght and St. James’s hospitals that were prepped for surgery and then sent home as there were no recovery beds available in the past five years. [44264/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Maintaining scheduled care access for all patients is a key priority for hospitals. I fully acknowledge the distress and inconvenience for patients and their families when elective procedures are cancelled, particularly for clinically urgent procedures.

While every effort is made to avoid cancellation or postponement of planned procedures, the HSE has advised that planned procedures and operations can be postponed or cancelled for a variety of reasons including capacity issues due to increased scheduled and unscheduled care demand.

In relation to the specific query raised regarding Tallaght University Hospital and St. James' Hospital, as this is a service issue, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.