The HSE has been asked to review clinic appointments for Donegal patients to prevent extra travel costs and overnight stays.
Donegal patients currently have to be referred to Galway University Hospital for rapid access prostate clinics, with 144 from Donegal attending in the past 12 months.
But early appointment times have been forcing patients to travel to Galway the night before and pay for accommodation to make morning appointments.
It also means they cannot avail of the free bus which travels from Letterkenny University Hospital to Galway three days a week.
Independent Councillor Declan Meehan said he has been contacted by people travelling from Donegal who have clinic appointments scheduled early on Friday mornings.
Cllr Meehan asked the HSE to consider the long travel times for patients coming from Donegal when organising clinic times.
Cllr Meehan brought the issue before the Regional Health Forum this week, where he was told there are no plans to run satellite clinics outside of Galway, as it is a designated cancer centre.
Ann Cosgrove, Integrated Healthcare Area Manager, Galway and Roscommon, subsequently agreed to contact the rapid access prostate clinic about scheduling Donegal patients in the later part of the clinic to allow for travel time.
Cllr Meehan was also told that 290 patients have availed of the new bus service from Letterkenny University Hospital to Galway University Hospital since it launched in August last year.
The service, operating on a pilot basis, brings an average of three patients to Galway per day.
Cllr Meehan commented that the bus is an important service “given the constant onus on patients in Donegal to travel for various procedures and clinics”.
He asked the HSE about plans to expand the service to a five-day schedule, and if the bus could stop in Sligo on the way to Galway.
Mr Dermot Monaghan, Integrated Healthcare Area Manager, Donegal said that, while a Sligo drop-off poses some logistical challenges, the expansion of the service will be taken into consideration as part of the review.
