Patients using Letterkenny General Hospital’s Dermatology clinic claim it has been shut without notice.
Letterkenny General Hospital
The claims have resulted in Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn calling for the immediate reinstatement of the service.
The SF Deputy said he was shocked to learn about the details of the clinic’s closure and once again this is the thin end of the wedge from the HSE for Letterkenny.
His comment come in the light of a Letterkenny woman’s experience after attending the clinic for the past four years.
Rosemary Cassidy revealed her plight to the Tirconail Tribune and has called for the urgent reinstatement of the dermatology clinic for public patients at Letterkenny.
Ms Cassidy says the clinic was shut down without notice at the end of May.
Queries for further clarification on this issue to the HSE and a response is awaited.
Deputy MacLochlainn said: “It is the responsibility of journalists to hold those in positions of power and responsibility to account and they must be facilitated in this work so integral to our democracy and society.
“I am also concerned that the HSE continues to delay responding to legitimate queries from the local media in Donegal. As a service funded by the taxpayers, they have a responsibility to be accountable.”
Rosemary Cassidy said public patients for dermatology treatment are now forced either to go private or pay the cost for a trip to Sligo.
Ms Cassidy, from McNeely Villas in Letterkenny, had been the public patient at this dermatology clinic for the past four years.
But recently she discovered to her shock and dismay that the service had shut down without any warning to the many people using the service throughout Donegal.
It is understood a local councillor was informed in recent days by management at Letterkenny General Hospital that the clinic was being closed for ten weeks to try and clear the backlog that had built up in Sligo.
However Ms Cassidy says it would be wise to take that with a pinch of salt and she’s highly sceptical of the reply.
“I had been a patient at this clinic for four years. The dermatologist was treating me for psoriasis. I had been due to see him recently at the General Hospital. But the appointment notice never arrived. When I rang up I was told that he wasn’t coming to Letterkenny for the foreseeable future because he had a big back log on a waiting list in Sligo.
I was told that if I wanted to see the Consultant I would have to go to Sligo or I could go privately to another consultant in Letterkenny who is not taking on any more public patients” Ms Cassidy said.
She is very angry that management at Letterkenny General Hospital did not inform all patients that the clinic had been shut down.
“Why were we not told that the Sligo based consultatant wouldn’t be coming back to Letterkenny any more.
So many people in different parts of the county were depending on this clinic to help them live with skin conditions like psoriasis. I know I can’t afford to go privately to another consultant in Letterkenny at a cost of €90 and then pay for the creams after that which can be up to €75 a time. And I’m certainly not travelling all the way to Sligo General to see the consultant.”
Ms Cassidy said it was her information that it could take up to three years for a new patient to see the Consultant Dermatologist.
She continued: “There was a hidden waiting list and an official waiting list in Letterkenny for the skin clinic and when those were put together it could take three years for a new patient to be seen by the consultant. Now we’re told our regular is unable to come to Letterkenny because of the big waiting list he has in Sligo so patients from Donegal going down there is not an option,” Ms Cassidy said.
She was a highly critical about how new private patients could get an appointment within a week of making an enquiry compared to the long wait for those who couldn’t afford to pay.
“I will be taking this matter further with the management at Letterkenny General. I want this clinic reinstated for the people of Donegal. It just seems that more and more services are being taken away from Letterkenny General Hospital and that’s not good enough.
“We’re not going to suffer in silence on this matter.
It’s not good enough that this dermatology clinic was taken away without any notification to the patients who use the service,” Ms Cassidy concluded.
We raised the concerns of the patient with the HSE this week saying she has been informed that this particular dermatology service for public patients has been discontinued and she cannot afford private treatment.
Deputy MacLochlainn said: “”I have today made representations to the management of Letterkenny General Hospital conveying the serious concerns of patients attending the dermatology clinic. I am demanding that this clinic is reinstated.
“We already have witnessed the failure to return the rheumatology clinic to Letterkenny, a clinic relied upon by hundreds of local patients. We need to fight any further erosion of our services. Citizens in Donegal have the the right to equal access to health services as those living in Dublin, Cork or Galway.”
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