Deputy Pearse Doherty is seeking urgent clarification from Government over its pledge to reopen the 19 bed Short Stay Ward at Letterkenny University Hospital.
The Donegal TD was speaking following having received a response to a Dáil Question on the issue of new hospital beds in which the Minister failed to specifically cite Letterkenny as one of the locations where additional beds will be rolled out next year.
Deputy Doherty said “As many people will be aware the campaign to have the short stay ward at Letterkenny Hospital has been something which Sinn Féin has been to the fore on for many months now.
“In fact, a petition initiated by the party last July garnered over 5,600 signatures from people across the county demanding that the ward be reinstated in order to alleviate the chronic problem of hospital overcrowding.
“And while the pledge made by the government following the budget earlier this month that the short stay ward would be reopened was a fantastic achievement and one which is owing to people power, there are still serious questions over just how genuine the government’s determination is to deliver this pledge.
He added that when he sought clarification from the Government over recent days about its plans to provide additional hospital bed capacity and queried the locations and time frame for the delivery of these new beds, there was no reference made to the Letterkenny Hospital in the Minister’s reply.
“Instead, the Minister simply responded to state that in early 2019 an additional 80 hospital beds will be brought on stream and these included an additional 30-bed ward in Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda, a 40-bed modular ward block in South Tipperary General Hospital, and four high dependency beds in the Mater and Cork University Hospital respectively.
“The Minister went on to give some vague details about the government allocating an additional €10 million in capital funding next year for further acute beds as part of the Winter Initiative 2019/20.
“It’s now vital – given the severity of hospital overcrowding and lack of capacity at LUH – that the Government immediately provides clarity in respect of these plans to reopen the Short Stay Ward in Letterkenny.
“This is why I intend to now raise this issue once again with the Minister where I will be demanding clarity in relation to the unit and when it’s expected that the short stay facility will be reinstated at the hospital.”