Donegal Daily
  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Politics
  • Features
  • Donegal County Council News
Monday 18°CTuesday 16°C

Donegal Daily Donegal Daily

sponsor banner
sponsor banner
  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Politics
  • Features
  • Donegal County Council News
HealthNews

Revealed: Quarter of all scheduled surgeries cancelled at Letterkenny hospital this year

written by Stephen Maguire November 30, 2017
FacebookTweetLinkedInPrint

Almost one in four of the planned cases in the General Surgery Department of Letterkenny University Hospital had to be cancelled this year.

The news was relayed in a Dail question to Senator Mac Lochlainn by the Minister for Health, Simon Harris.

Management at the hospital have confirmed that out of 388 planned cases or surgeries this year, 89 had to be cancelled.

Senator Mac Lochlainn said the numbers of cancellations are deeply worrying.

“It is best international practice that surgeons or consultants would have a set number of days and cases every week, month and year to work on. Clearly the beds crisis at the hospital means that again and again, surgeries are being cancelled and these standards are slipping through no fault of the front line staff.

“More importantly these delays cause real additional stress and distress to those patients from Donegal awaiting an operation or procedure. I am personally aware of on instance where a lady had fasted in preparation for a surgical procedure and was in gowns ready to be taken to theatre when her operation was cancelled. This is a scandalous situation”.

He added that the unacceptably high number of surgical cancellations is a symptom of the overall beds crisis at the hospital.

“This is a crisis caused by years of systematic underfunding and discrimination.

“The outworking of this willful neglect is unprecedented numbers of Donegal people on trolleys at our major county hospital, waiting outrageous lengths of time for an adequate bed; almost 20,000 of our people or one in eight, on hospital waiting lists; and as we now know, unacceptable numbers of surgical cancellations”.

He added “Earlier this year, my party published our report and document, “The Need To Invest In Letterkenny University Hospital”. We will continue to fight for fairness and funding justice for our hospital”.

Revealed: Quarter of all scheduled surgeries cancelled at Letterkenny hospital this year was last modified: November 30th, 2017 by Stephen Maguire
FacebookTweetLinkedInPrint

Tags:
cancelleddonegalletterkennysurgery
Stephen Maguire

Stephen Maguire is the co-founder of Donegal Daily. He has worked as a reporter for almost 30 years starting locally with the Donegal Peoples Press before moving to the Mirror Group. He continues to contribute daily to national media outlets including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Independent, Irish Sun, Irish Mirror, Irish Star, the Daily Mail and the Examiner.

LEAVE A COMMENT

You may also like

Fine weather to return next week as...

5 hours ago

Seamus Coleman pays respects to Diogo Jota...

6 hours ago

Glenswilly GAA hosting Clubhouse Beats teen disco...

7 hours ago

Ghost is Donegal’s dog in the 2025...

8 hours ago

€1,000 college fees hike a “suckerpunch” for...

9 hours ago

Charles Ward opens first 100% Redress Party...

11 hours ago

Falcarragh Summer Cup launch new memorial cup...

12 hours ago

Letterkenny drug-driver put off the road

12 hours ago

Alert: Windyhall road in Letterkenny to be...

13 hours ago

Pvt Sean Rooney’s inquest hears Defence Forces...

13 hours ago
Advertisement
Advertisement

Donegal County Council

Facebook
Donegal County Council
Advertisement
Advertisement
Donegal Daily Jobs

Read More

  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Sales & Services
  • Obituaries
  • Features
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Council News

Information

  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Advertise WIth Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions

Our Sites

Donegal Woman
Donegal Woman
Donegal Daily

© 2025 Donegal Daily. All rights reserved.
Website by owenod


Back To Top.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.