Concern has been expressed at the number of orthopaedic procedures being cancelled at Letterkenny University Hospital.
2025 saw a year on year increase in cancellations of 30%. However, the proportion of cancellations ordered by the hospital rather than the consultant or patient rose by 187%.
Cllr Gerry McMonagle was told at a meeting of the HSE’s Regional Health Forum that the decision to cancel orthopaedic surgeries is taken when the Hospital was in escalation and at full capacity.
There was a Directive to the Hospital at the start of the year that only time critical and cancer surgeries were performed to allow for patient flow when the Emergency Department was experiencing high number of attendances and overcrowding.
At the moment, 1,808 people are awaiting orthopaedic procedures, 106 of them for more than a year.
In 2025, 300 orthopaedic procedures were cancelled at Letterkenny University Hospital, 210 by hospital management. That’s in contrast to 2024, when 206 procedures were cancelled, 73 of them by the hospital.
