Coronavirus: 106 cancer procedures cancelled

More than 100 people have had cancer procedures, including surgery, cancelled in the Belfast Health Trust.

The trust confirmed to the BBC that a rise in Covid-19 admissions is placing pressure on hospitals.

It has led to the trust taking the "extremely difficult decision" to cancel surgeries in order to expand their Covid-19 ICU teams.

In statement the trust apologised and said it did not underestimate the distress this caused patients.

In an interview with BBC News NI Dr Chris Hagan, medical director of the Belfast Trust, said: "I am really sorry. The last thing we would ever have wanted to do is cancel those operations.

"I'm trying to reassure people that we will do our absolute utmost to reschedule those cases as quickly as we possibly can so that those patients don't come to any harm."

So far 106 procedures have been cancelled including both surgeries and scopes.

One of the people affected is a 72-year-old woman who lives in Keady in County Armagh.

Her gynaecological procedure was scheduled for Friday but it has been cancelled.

'Mother's only voice'

Her daughter Siana McGleenon has written to the Chief Executive of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT) and members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In a hard hitting letter she says the surgery could save her mother's live.

In an excerpt from the letter:

"I want answers to why you would do this, why you would make someone that is getting sicker by the day wait and wait. Would your mother be left to wait?

"I want a reply before the end of the week, and I want you to tell me what you are doing about this and when lifesaving surgeries will resume for innocent people. If you were battling a life threatening disease would you like to be isolated in a house on your own not knowing whether you will live or die?"

Speaking to BBC News NI, Siana said she was speaking out as she is her mother's only voice.

She has asked for her mother not to be named.

"My mother is all I have got as I am an only child, I will not go away, I can assure you," she said.

"We have been waiting for this such a long time. I just can't accept that people who are seriously ill are having their operations cancelled. This isn't just a hip or a knee op this is lifesaving treatment," she added.

The Chief Executive of Action Cancer, Gareth Kirk, has described the cancellations as shocking.

He said: "We understand the difficulties and challenges that the authorities are facing and we sympathise with our clinical colleagues.

"But now seven months on what have we learned what has changed? So my question would be to the minister, to the department and to the executive - What is your strategy? What is your plan? You cannot keep closing down elective surgery."

A spokesperson for the Belfast Trust said: "We fully understand how important it is for many cancer patients to have surgery in a timely way and we are doing everything we can to ensure any cancelled procedures are rescheduled as soon as possible."

'Pressure is mounting across the system'

Things are bad when cancer operations are being cancelled.

According to the health trusts pressure is mounting across the system for beds but especially staff in order to care for Covid-19 patients; so much so that other patients are having to step aside.

While the virus can be life threatening so too is cancer.

According to families who have spoken to the BBC, as the virus isn't going away, the health service will have to learn to cope with dealing with both covid and cancer.

The problem, however, that even before coronavirus, Northern Ireland's health and social care system was at breaking point.

Too few nurses, 2,500 to be exact, meant that we started the pandemic below par. The situation has just got increasingly worse.

We may have the beds and ICU's but they are useless if we don't have the specialist staff to operate them.

Work force development, something the health unions have been shouting about for over a decade is critical.

As demonstrated now, there is never a good time to play catch up, let alone during a pandemic.