Elective surgery will be cancelled during severe weather

The Minister made the comments during a debate on the provision of hip arthroscopy surgery at the Stormont Assembly on Monday.

During the debate Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey acknowledged that "good, effective work in hip and knee replacement surgery has been ongoing."

But he asked the Minister to outline whether the "number of fractures that people sustained in unfortunate incidents and falls during the severe weather this winter has had a detrimental effect on those already on the waiting list for surgery?"

The Minister replied: "I am sure that the Member is aware that the Health Service experiences those pressures every winter.

"They were particularly severe this winter, and we are still not out of that situation.

"If the clinics at the Ulster Hospital, Craigavon Area Hospital, the Royal Victoria Hospital and Altnagelvin Area Hospital cannot cope, we will - this has happened on occasions - suspend elective surgery, which is planned visits to hospital for planned surgery.

"Elective surgery was temporarily interrupted, but I understand that extra sessions were put on at Altnagelvin and other hospitals to deal with the increasing number of patients on the waiting lists."

Mr McGimpsey said the situation would be kept under review but that it is something that happens every year. He praised the Health Service for coping "very well given the pressures under which it operates."