Non-urgent surgery cancelled at Galway hospital

University Hospital Galway (UHG) has cancelled all non-urgent surgery due to a "significant" increase in demand at its accident and emergency department yesterday.

“All available bed capacity is being utilised”, the hospital said last night as it confirmed that deferral of elective surgery was one of several measures being taken to cope with the demand.

It said that it was also ensuring that there were “no unnecessary delays” for “necessary” diagnostic tests for patients in its emergency departments.

Hospital management said that much of the increase in activity was attributed to seasonal illnesses and flu. It was also treating a large number of acute cases in casualty, a spokeswoman said.