Letterkenny University Hospital was forced to put emergency measures into place this evening to deal with a surge of patients at the Emergency Department.
At one point this afternoon, ten ambulances were backed up at the hospital door.
Management drafted in two extra crews and engaged with community paramedics to deal with the overflow. Within the hospital, consultants were called in to provide extra cover.
As of 8pm there are currently two ambulances at the hospital, with the rest back in action in the area.
“It’s crisis averted for today, but there is a serious problem there,” said Cllr Gerry McMonagle, Chair of the Regional Health Form West.
“In a normal day, you would have ten ambulances in the county. Today, they couldn’t get the patients triaged quick enough.”
Saolta has confirmed this evening that Letterkenny University Hospital has been extremely busy over the past week with on average 120 patients presenting for treatment every day. Yesterday 139 people attended the Emergency Department.
An additional 23 escalation beds have been opened onsite, but Cllr McMonagle said it is clear that a deficit remains as a key issue.
He said: “The hospital is low on staff, due to illnesses and people off, and they are hoping there isn’t going to be a big surge, but today they had to go and bring in consultants. That, and with the extra crews, they were able to get on top of the situation. But we know that patient numbers are not going down, unfortunately, and we should be planning for this every time.
“There is a serious problem there, and there has been for a while. The hospital needs to wake up to this, they need to raise a flag and say they need further help, this is getting dangerous.”
Saolta’s statement said that every effort is being made to discharge patients who are ready to go home so that beds will become available for patients who need to be admitted, at the earliest opportunity.
As of 8pm last night there were 23 patients with COVID-19 being treated in the hospital.
“The hospital acknowledges that these delays are very difficult for patients and their families and apologises for the inconvenience and distress these delays cause,” Saolta said.
“The hospital is committed to treating everyone who presents at the Emergency Department; people who are seriously injured or ill are assessed and treated as a priority and those who do not require urgent care may be waiting longer. If your health problem is not an emergency you should contact your GP during normal surgery hours or the NoWDOC GP out of hours service, in the first instance.”
