Northern Ireland

Health trusts postpone all non-urgent surgeries until end of January

Winter pressures affecting hospitals have meant that hundreds of operations have had to be postponed
Winter pressures affecting hospitals have meant that hundreds of operations have had to be postponed Winter pressures affecting hospitals have meant that hundreds of operations have had to be postponed

ALL routine, non-urgent operations in the north have been postponed until the end of January, it has been reported.

The BBC said the move was revealed in a leaked email written by the director of surgery at the Belfast Trust.

"It has been decided… that no routine elective inpatient cases are to be scheduled in trusts for the remainder of January 2018," it read.

All cardiac, cancer and urgent cases are to go ahead as planned.

A spokesperson for the Health and Social Care Board said each trust would review the position on a speciality-by-speciality basis at the end of the month.

Winter pressures affecting hospitals have meant that hundreds of scheduled operations have had to be cancelled since the start of December.

In the Southern trust alone more than 220 procedures were put back.

Orthopaedic surgeries such as hip and knee replacements have been among those affected.