Health

‘I don’t want my husband to die waiting for surgery’

Case study: Peter Nolan (58) from Bray, on waiting list for heart operation since last year

“Twenty-four months waiting, where if your aneurysm bursts it’s fatal,” said Bernadette Nolan. It was “like living with a time-bomb.” Photograph: iStockphoto

Elaine Edwards
Thu Jun 8 2017 - 19:12

Bernadette Nolan from Bray, Co Wicklow said her husband Peter (58) has been waiting for major heart surgery since late last year and does not yet have a date for it.

Ms Nolan has raised the issue with Minister for Health Simon Harris, who is one of her local TDs.

Her husband has four issues to be dealt with during major surgery: repair of the aortic root, a valve replacement, a bypass of the right coronary artery and repair to a vascular aneurysm.

She said her husband had been told by St James’s Hospital last November that the waiting list for his operations was between 18 and 24 months.

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“We couldn’t believe it. We were completely shocked.”

‘Begging’

While Ms Nolan said she did not blame the hospitals or the doctors, it was “shameful” to leave patients “begging” for their surgery and survival.

“Twenty-four months waiting, where if your aneurysm bursts it’s fatal,” she said. She said the couple had to stay within reach of a hospital in case anything happened to her husband, and he also had to keep his blood pressure monitored.

It was “like living with a time-bomb”.

Ms Nolan said she wanted to raise the issue not just for her husband but for all those on the waiting list.

‘Voices heard’

“I don’t want my husband to die waiting for this. People are ill and I want to raise it for all those waiting for this who will never have their voices heard. I hope to continue raising this after Peter’s surgery,” she said.

Mr Harris wrote to Ms Nolan last month to say he had again outlined to the HSE the difficulty her husband and patients like him are facing and have asked that ways of addressing the waiting lists in the most urgent cases be prioritised including the National Treatment Purchase Plan.

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