Belfast Trust apologises after cancelling planned kidney transplants
Some transplants have been called off because of covid pressures
The Belfast Trust has apologised to all patients affected by the recent cancellation of some planned kidney transplants.
It comes after some cancer surgeries were called off last week in Belfast amid rising covid admissions.
In a statement a spokesperson for the Belfast Trust said it’s come under “significant pressure due to a considerable increase in Covid-19 patients.”
“Unfortunately, as a result of the growing demand on our services, we had to make the difficult decision to cancel a small number of kidney transplants to create capacity within our staffing teams in theatres, who have the appropriate critical care skillsets to assist in ICU at this challenging time.
“All options were explored in order to try and ensure transplants could be carried out, this decision was a last resort and not taken lightly.”
“We apologise to all patients and we are doing all we can to ensure we can reschedule surgeries as soon as possible.”