Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn
POLITICAL and local pressure has forced Letterkenny General Hospital to properly resource its oncology services.
“Cancer services at Letterkenny General Hospital will continue as normal and there are no planned changes to current levels of service provision,” said the hospital in a brief statement tonight.
It comes after Padraig Mac Lochlainn TD and Betty Holmes from Donegal Action on Cancer Care went public with allegations that some patients may have been sent to other hospitals due to a lack of staff in Donegal.
However Sean Murphy, the hospital manager, has told them he has acquired the resources to make sure that does not now happen.
The HSE statement did not address another question raised by Deputy Mac Lochlainn late last night – does Letterkenny have the staff and doctors required?
Staff tell Donegal Daily that they don’t.
Patients were sent to Sligo last Monday because there weren’t enough doctors in Letterkenny to treat them.
“We need more junior doctors and more nurses and less people with clipboards,” said one member of staff who asked not to be identified.
“This hospital is going from crisis to crisis – and there will be another one, as sure as night follows day.
“We can’t speak out – and we are grateful to pressure groups and politicians who do.”
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