Independent TD Thomas Pringle has welcomed the opening of the new Ballyshannon Community Hospital.
However, he says, there is still ‘a long way to go’ to address the lack of health services in Donegal.
Addressing the Dáil today, Deputy Pringle said the new Ballyshannon Community Hospital was great news for the people of south Donegal.
“Unfortunately, however, there is still a long way to go in addressing the lack of services in Donegal,” he said.
“Hospitals like Killybegs Community Hospital have the potential to provide well-needed community healthcare to rural communities, if they were given the necessary funding to do so.
Unfortunately, he added the services in community hospitals like Killybegs are suffering due to a lack of staff and funding.
“I was contacted by constituents recently who were unable to receive any physiotherapy because the only physiotherapist available was off on annual leave,” he explained.
“It should never be the case that an entire hospital is relying on one physio and when someone goes on a deserved holiday that the whole system collapses. This is completely unacceptable and puts immense stress on our community healthcare workers,” he added.
The deputy was speaking in support of the Rural Independent motion in relation to healthcare provision in rural communities.
“What is also important is that community healthcare services will divert people from the hospital service and the ongoing crisis we have there will be eased,” he said.
“It has become clear in recent years that Ireland does not have enough GPs to meet patient numbers, especially in rural Ireland.”
He highlighted an incident that happened in a Garda station in Donegal recently.
“The guards were forced to hold a man with severe mental health issues for 12 hours because there were no GPs available to assess him,” Deputy Pringle said.
“This was not only unfair to the man being held, but also to the gardaí, who were unable to do anything else while this man was in their care.”
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