Donegal Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has said the situation at Letterkenny University Hospital is “utterly unacceptable.”
It follows an incident on Tuesday when up to eight ambulances were backed up at the Emergency Department.
Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Mac Lochlainn challenged the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly to act on the calls made by the GPs and Hospital Consultants in Donegal who are campaigning for urgent actions to be inplimented at the hospital and a fair allocation of government expenditure to end years of funding discrimination.
He said “Yesterday, at Letterkenny University Hospital eight ambulances were backed up outside. Patients were in the back of those ambulances rather than being cared for in the hospital.
“This is not a rare occurrence. A week previously a similar number of ambulances were outside and I am sure the Minister will agree that this is utterly unacceptable”.
“I received a report late last night that an 88 year old woman had been on a hard seat all day long, waiting for care, as had a 79 year old man”.
“Recently the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, came up to Donegal and met with GPs and consultants who had been seeking such a meeting for weeks. When will he act on the proposals they made which are crucial to the hospital”.
