It has emerged that just one in five new nursing posts have been sanctioned at Letterkenny University Hospital due to the recruitment embargo in the HSE.
And less than half of all staffing posts in the hospital have been signed off since May this year.
The figures have sparked shock and anger locally and have given rise to more calls on the government to lift the health service recruitment ban.
“The true and scandalous impact of the government’s embargo is now revealed,” said Donegal Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.
Senator Mac Lochlainn had asked the Minister for Health to confirm how many posts at the hospital had been submitted for national approval since the recruitment embargo commenced earlier this year and how many had been signed off on.
He said: “Of 19 nursing posts applied for, only four have been sanctioned (one in five). Of 69.5 overall staffing posts applied for, only 29.5 have been sanctioned (less than half). The serious impact of these willful blockages by the Minister and his department and HSE senior officials is felt every day across the hospital.
“Growing numbers of patients awaiting inpatient beds and growing numbers of people awaiting outpatient and inpatient hospital appointments and operations. And impossibly difficult working conditions for our nurses, doctors and support staff.”
Senator MacLochlainn is again calling on the Minister to end the embargo in order to reopen all the beds in the hospital’s Short Stay Ward.
He said: “My campaign to get all of these beds reopened with additional nurses and doctors, will continue until Minister Simon Harris keeps his word.”
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