Letterkenny General Hospital
Patients in ambulances are to be diverted again from Letterkenny General Hospital to Sligo because of a lack of staff here.
Donegal County Councillor and member of the Regional Health Forum West, Gerry Mc Monagle is seeking clarification from the management of Letterkenny General Hospital as to how long non critical patients will have to be transferred to Sligo Regional Hospital due to the lack of Medical Registrars at Letterkenny General Hospital.
Cllr Mc Monagle was speaking after receiving information that Letterkenny General Hospital will not be able to accept medical patients (GP referred or Ambulance arrivals) from 9-30am Monday 4th Aug until wed 6th Aug.
He said: “Management at LGH must immediately clarify this latest crisis to hit the hospital. They must give the Donegal public clear assurances that they have the necessary resources to run the hospital safely.
“For months now, my two colleagues, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Pearse Doherty have been requesting information in relation to staffing and resources available to LGH. It is high time that the Management at the Hospital shouted out “loud and clear” to the Government what we all already know and that is Letterkenny General Hospital is suffering from a lack of medical staff and resources to be able to run the hospital safely.
“Staff at Letterkenny General Hospital have for a long time been put under undue pressures from the shortage of medical staff, especially nurses and junior doctors. They are working extremely long hours with little or no rest periods. They are to be highly commended for their dedication and work ethic.”
Cllr Mc Monagle also questioned the cost of employing private ambulances to help in delivering these latest diversion arrangements. “What budget will the money to pay for these private ambulances come out off? These are the questions that need to be addressed by the Hospital Management. They need to come clean with the Donegal public and not continue to stumble into crisis after crisis”.
Cllr Mc Monagle ended by saying that he was disappointed as a member of the Regional Health Forum West/ North West, he had not been informed by the hospital of this serious decision to transfer GP referral and ambulance arrivals to Sligo General Hospital due to the lack of Medical Registrars at Letterkenny Hospital.
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