None of the five new beds promised for Letterkenny University Hospital for this winter have materialised so far, it has been revealed.
The HSE’s Winter Plan 2018/2019 had pledged 75 additional acute beds for hospitals nationwide. However, new data shows just under half of those have been opened to date.
Donegal Sinn Féin Senator Padraig Mac Lochlainn has criticised the Government over the situation in Letterkenny and across Ireland.
Senator Mac Lochlainn said: “As this data shows, Minister Harris’s Winter Plan has been exposed as an exercise in hype and spin from this Government.
“Despite all the pledges and all the boasting we heard over the airwaves and in the newspapers over the Christmas period from the Minister in an effort to publicise his initiative, the fact that only 40 of the 75 beds announced have been opened doesn’t do much to inspire much confidence in his ability to get a grip on the overcrowding crisis.”
Senator Mac Lochlainn expressed his shock that LUH continues to wait for additional beds while it is regularly at full capacity.
He said: “Shockingly, at LUH where a meager five in-patient beds had been pledged, we now discover that none of these beds have yet to be opened.
“This is despite the hospital continuing to experience huge levels of overcrowding, with 30 patients having been forced to wait on trolleys and chairs at Letterkenny only as recently as this morning (Tuesday).
“And Letterkenny is not alone here, hospitals in Waterford, Tullamore, Dublin, Cork, and Galway have yet to open any of the new beds that were promised as part of the Winter Plan.”
Increased bed capacity, along with improved staffing levels, are vital to solving the health crisis, Mac Lochlainn said.
“Over the last decade, there has been a decrease of over 1,100 beds in hospitals state wide, and so this is why additional capacity has been identified as one of the many initiatives which are urgently needed to address this worrying trend.
“However, unless this government addresses the recruitment and retention crisis affecting our nurses and doctors, these beds won’t be opened.
“Fine Gael have the power to tackle these issues, however, after 8 years in charge of health, it is apparent they haven’t the appetite, the acumen, nor the capabilities to do so,” concluded Senator Mac Lochlainn.
