Gerard P. Craughwell urges audit of hospital theatre underuse
Gerard P. Craughwell called for a national audit of hospital theatre utilisation, arguing that allocated operating-theatre time is being wasted and patients are losing out. He also warned that public servants' standards of living have fallen, recalling that teachers once could buy houses but "not too many teachers can buy houses now".
He described how hospital theatres are routinely allocated to specialisms - for example thoracic and orthopaedic - and said new specialist services are being squeezed out because available theatre hours are limited. He cited an anecdote in which an orthopaedic team allocated two days of theatre time can only use one and a half days, leaving a half day unused and patients disadvantaged.
He urged an audit of all theatre time across the country to establish how theatre time is utilised and how many hours are going to waste, saying such an audit would assist health services. He linked the issue to earlier parliamentary work on head and neck cancer that prompted wider conversations about theatre underutilisation.
He said he had already raised the matter with the minister, who expressed strong concern, and he agreed with the minister's point that central authorities cannot micromanage every hospital. He nonetheless argued that a systematic audit is the right approach rather than ad hoc interventions.
He argued that public servants have not been adequately thanked for their role in protecting the economy and reflected on his time as president of the teachers' union. He noted that while FEMPI measures may have been unwound, the standard of living for many public servants has declined and deserves attention in the near future.
Theatre allocation and underuse
He described how hospital theatres are routinely allocated to specialisms - for example thoracic and orthopaedic - and said new specialist services are being squeezed out because available theatre hours are limited. He cited an anecdote in which an orthopaedic team allocated two days of theatre time can only use one and a half days, leaving a half day unused and patients disadvantaged.
Call for national audit
He urged an audit of all theatre time across the country to establish how theatre time is utilised and how many hours are going to waste, saying such an audit would assist health services. He linked the issue to earlier parliamentary work on head and neck cancer that prompted wider conversations about theatre underutilisation.
Exchange with the minister
He said he had already raised the matter with the minister, who expressed strong concern, and he agreed with the minister's point that central authorities cannot micromanage every hospital. He nonetheless argued that a systematic audit is the right approach rather than ad hoc interventions.
Public service living standards
He argued that public servants have not been adequately thanked for their role in protecting the economy and reflected on his time as president of the teachers' union. He noted that while FEMPI measures may have been unwound, the standard of living for many public servants has declined and deserves attention in the near future.
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Transcript
Some time ago we had a private member's motion in here regarding head and neck cancer and that has led to a number of discussions or conversations with people around the country about the underutilisation of theatres in hospitals. Specifically, it appears that hospital theatres are allocated to specialisms, so thoracic might have so many hours, orthopaedic might have so many hours and so on and so forth. Some of the new specialist services that have come in are being squeezed out as a result of the fact that there is only limited time available in the theatres. And then it emerges that, let's say on an anecdotal basis, that an orthopaedic group have access to an operating theatre for two days in the week and in fact they can only use that for a day and a half. So a half day of theatre time is lost and patients are losing out. Now, I've already spoken to the Minister on this issue and I found her extremely concerned, but I agreed with her overall response and that is she cannot manage or micromanage every hospital in the country. And I know you may recommend that I bring this up as a commencement matter, but actually what we need is we need an audit of all theatre time in the country and how that theatre time is utilised and how many hours of theatre time are going to waste in the country. It would certainly help the health services if we did that. And finally, before I sit down, the public service have never really been thanked in this country for saving the economy. And I was only reviewing some notes last night from my time as President of the Teachers' Union of Ireland. And I recall teachers used to be able to buy houses. Not too many teachers can buy houses now. The public service, FEMPI may have been unwound, but at the end of the day, the standard of living of public services has gone down greatly. We need to have a look at that in the near future. Thank you. Thank you.