Letterkenny General Hospital
Deputy Pearse Doherty has described as ‘deeply concerning’ figures released by the HSE which show that Letterkenny University Hospital had the second highest number of hospital cancellations for elective surgical procedures across the entire Saolta University Health Care Group over the past two years.
The figures, which were obtained by Deputy Doherty through a Parliamentary Question tabled to the Health Minister, show that a total of 351 scheduled procedures or non-urgent surgeries were cancelled by Letterkenny hospital in 2014 and 2015.
Commenting on the figures Deputy Doherty said “Given the growing number of anecdotal evidence and reports from constituents which I’ve received in recent months about cancellations of surgeries at the hospital, I decided to raise the matter with the health Minister in the Dáil, where I asked him to provide the total number of elective procedures which have had to be cancelled or postponed across the Saolta Group over the past two years.
“I have now received those figures and the story they tell is quite worrying, particularly for Letterkenny University Hospital which, out of the six hospitals which make up the grouping, Letterkenny had the second highest number of hospital cancellations for such procedures over this two year period.
“The figures reveal that 351 non-urgent elective procedures were cancelled by the hospital throughout 2014 and 2015, with only Galway University Hospital having cancelled a greater number of surgeries.
“The Minister has spoken on a number of occasions previously about hospital escalation policies being in place to help tackle episodes of overcrowding at our acute public hospitals, including the cancellation of non-emergency procedures which hospitals are now resorting to as they struggle more and more to cope with patient numbers.
“Essentially, and as these figures prove, the hospital simply cannot cope with the volume of patients which are now passing through its doors and it is not adequately resourced to help deal with the demands placed on its services.
“Time and time again I, along with my colleague Deputy Pádraig MacLochlainn, have been highlighting the deteriorating situation at Letterkenny University Hospital, and time and time again our warnings go unheeded by the Minister and this Government.
“For patients and their families to wait anxiously on an appointment for weeks or months to have a procedure carried out only to then be told that it is not now going ahead is an awful blow to have to deal people, but yet this is the only option which medical teams at our hospitals have because this is the direction given to them under this government.”
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