Galway Bay fm newsroom - It's been revealed there's been a drop of almost 90 percent in elective procedures carried out at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe.
Fianna Fail Deputy Eugene Murphy says figures obtained by his party show that 3, 861 elective procedures were carried out at the hospital in 2012.
However, that figure had dropped to 527 last year - a major decrease of 86 percent in just four years.
Galway-Roscommon Deputy Murphy says the ongoing crisis at the emergency department is to blame for the significant drop.
HSE figures show there was also a drop in elective procedures being carried out at Galway University Hospitals, which consists of UHG and Merlin Park.
There were 8, 116 discharges from both hospitals last year - that's a 15 percent drop on the figure of 9, 651.
Deputy Murphy argues that the Health Minister must speed up the proposed hospital bed capacity review.
