Offaly woman warns 'people will die' as she awaits urgent surgery

“PEOPLE will die” is the stark warning from a Clara woman awaiting knee surgery, one of hundreds of private patients around the country whose procedures have been put on hold during the Covid crisis.

Stephanie Connor was due to undergo surgery on her left knee at a private hospital but just four days before her procedure the facility, along with all other independent hospitals in the country, was brought under the control of the Health Service Executive [HSE] to cope with the expected surge in Covid cases.

The surge did not materialise and the private beds have been “surplus to requirements”, a leading Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Turlough O'Donnell has claimed.

Stephanie now suffers severe pain and has spent hundreds of euros on patches to alleviate her situation.

She also suffers from stomach pain due to the amount of painkillers she is ingesting.

Now on crutches, Stephanie, who farms with her husband, David and family outside Clara, also has to contend with hip pain brought on by her knee condition.

“There are lots of other people in the same boat as me,” Stephanie told the Tribune this week.

She added; “I'm not just speaking for myself but for the hundreds of other people around the country in the same situation.”

“We are being brushed aside,” she added stressing that she and others had paid voluntary health insurance all their lives.

“There are cancer and heart patients far worse than me,” she stressed.

Stephanie was originally scheduled to have her procedure in April but it was brought forward to March due to the severity of her condition.

But the procedure was indefinitely deferred when the HSE assumed control of the hospital and a tentative date has now been set for late July or August.

“My biggest fear is falling as my knee is under such pressure,” said Stephanie, who is originally from Ballybrit, outside Roscrea, in the south of the county.

She said she had received several steroid injections to manage the pain but they were now ineffective.

Stephanie paid tribute to her G.P., Dr Raymond Campbell and his team at the Market Square Medical Centre in Kilbeggan who she said had been a great support to her.

“I would have been in utter despair without him and his staff,” she outlined.

Stephanie urged people in a similar position to her to “make as much noise as possible.”

She has contacted local T.D.s and paid tribute to Deputies Carol Nolan and Clara-based Barry Cowen for their advocacy on her behalf. She also thanked local Tullamore area councillor, Neil Feighery for his assistance

The situation private patients awaiting surgery are in was highlighted earlier this month by Dr Turlough O'Donnell, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Beacon Hospital in Sandyford, Dublin and also Associate Professor in Clinical Surgery at University College Dublin.

He said it was “time to allow independent hospitals and their staff to return immediately to work and provide a service to those that desperately need it.”

He said that capacity in intensive care units in public hospitals had not been reached at any point in the Covid crisis but yet the Government was “squandering €115 million per month in order to prevent independent hospitals from performing their duty to the patients they serve.”

“This is an extravagance borne out of a political ideology rather than a public health emergency,” claimed Dr O'Donnell.

He continued; “Those of us who work in the independent health care sector have been ready and willing to do all we can to help and treat patients suffering from this appalling disease. The fact is, however, that we simply have been surplus to requirements. Our colleagues in public hospitals who have been dealing with this pandemic have worked heroically but that is no reason for denying our patients the right to access the care they require.”

Added Dr O'Donnell: “Maintaining empty beds at enormous costs to the taxpayer is immoral, unethical, an example of economic incompetence and nothing short of a national scandal.”

“Keeping independent bed capacity under wraps in case of a surge is flimsy logic,” he claimed.

“There is a point where prudent planning becomes fiscal madness. We have passed that particular fork in the road.”