All orthopaedic surgeries at Galway's Merlin Park Hospital for the foreseeable future have been cancelled due to a leaky roof at the hospital.
Two operating theatres at Merlin Park were closed last week on health and safety grounds when doctors discovered significant leaks in the roof of the building that houses the facilities.
Hospital management this morning moved to procure temporary modular theatre facilities to treat patients while significant repairs are carried out on the roof at Merlin Park.
All elective orthopaedic procedures, including hip and knee replacements, spinal procedures and hand and foot surgeries, are cancelled.
The Health Service Executive has not said when the theatres will re-open.
Merlin Park Hospital is the only place within the Saolta Hospital region, which serves patients all across Connacht and along the Western Sea Board, to carry out certain orthopaedic procedures.
750 patients are waiting for surgery at Merlin Park, with 5,000 more waiting on outpatient appointments
Significant remedial works on the hospital's air conditioning system were carried out last year.
"Last Wednesday we had a major leak into the operating suite which has closed the hospital for surgery effectively. We run two theatres five days a week and we operate on somewhere between 50 and 70 patients a week," said consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Merlin Park, Dr Stephen Kearns.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, Dr Kearns said: "When I arrived to start my list, we found water on the floor of the corridor outside the theatre.
"Unfortunately it happened before. An attempt had been made to rectify it but it was unsuccessful."
"There was some work to upgrade the facilities - Merlin Park was built in 1958 - there was some work done to upgrade the air conditioning and air purification systems last year and since then we've had intermittent problems.
"But this is now a very serious problem which has closed the theatres" he added.
Dr Kearns said some patients were at Merlin Park ready to be operated on last Wednesday, but were instead sent home.
"On Wednesday, patients were in an operating theatre ready to be operated on and they had to go home. I had two patients from Donegal and one from Belmullet ready to go and they had to go home.
"Some of these patients had been waiting two or three years for an operation. This is a catastrophe for patients," he said.
Dr Kearns also said some nurses at the hospital are unsure as to their immediate future due to the lack of operating theatres.
"Nurses on the wards and theatres... are super specialised. The ward nurses are in limbo. All of us want to do the job, we are willing to do the job, but we need a safe facility to the treatment," he explained.
In a statement, the Saolta Hospital Group said the roof at Merlin Park will 'require significant repairs', and the affected theatres 'will be out of commission for several more weeks'.
The group says it has already contacted some patients to advise them that their procedure will be rescheduled for a later date, and that it will be contacting more patients again in the coming weeks.
The group says it is sorry for the distress and inconveniece caused to patients.
The Regional Health Forum West will meet next week and will discuss developments at Merlin Park.
City councillor and forum member Padraig Conneely said he believes hospital authorities should consider a 'ball and chain to knock Merlin Park'.
Councillor Peter Keane told Drivetime that an independent investigation into what happened at Merlin Park is urgently needed.
Merlin Park is part of Galway University Hospital, which has the biggest inpatient, day case and outpatient waiting lists in the country, with over 50,500 patients waiting for an appointment or a procedure.
Staff at the hospital are fearful about the impact these closures will have on those waiting lists.
