A call has been made for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to visit Letterkenny University Hospital as a matter of urgency as overcrowding continues to be an issue.
The call was made as a picture emerged this morning of a couple forced to sit in accident and emergency due to what appeared to be overcrowding.
Chairman of the HSE Western Regional Health Forum, Councillor Gerry McMonagle told Donegal Daily the situation was simply not acceptable.
“I would simply ask when management at the hospital are going to call a crisis? This is simply not acceptable.
“For whatever reason we can clearly see people sitting in the corridor of what appears to be a treatment area.
“This is not acceptable and my anger is not towards the staff at the hospital but at management and those in power in Government for allowing this to happen.
“The Health Minister needs to visit Letterkenny Hospital immediately and see for himself first-hand the challenges facing staff on a daily basis.
“For people to be sitting in a corridor of a treatment area on a Tuesday morning is nothing short of a scandal,” he said.
Councillor McMonagle said the health service must start looking outside the box and using primary health centres as treatment facilities to prevent hospitals from being clogged up.
“We need to begin diverting patients to other facilities and if that means Derry and Sligo for urgent treatment then so be it.
“But before it comes to that we need to think outside the box and begin treating people within our primary care centres.
“We need to stop clogging up out hospitals because these pictures are simply not acceptable any more,” he added.
We contacted Saolta, the management authority for Letterkenny University Hospital in relation to overcrowding at the hospital and are awaiting a reply.
