LETTERKENNY General Hospital is the worst funded hospital in the State, receiving the least amount of cash per patient.
And staffing levels per patient are also the worst, figures obtained by Sinn Fein TDs Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Pearse Doherty show.
The TDs released the figures to Donegal Daily – confirming a report on this site more than nine months ago.
Dublin hospitals get twice as much cash.
Deputy Mac Lochlainn said: “We can reveal that the management and staff at Letterkenny General Hospital have endured a scandalous and systematic underfunding for many years now.
“We have obtained access to data that shows that per 1,000 inpatients, Letterkenny General Hospital receives the lowest budgetary allocation of any hospital in the state and the lowest allocation of hospital staff in the state.
“Dublin hospitals have been receiving between two and three times the budgetary allocation that Letterkenny General Hospital receives per 1000 inpatients.”
“Also despite the fact Letterkenny General Hospital caters for 21,000 inpatients, making it the seventh highest in the state; they have yet to be given the designation of a Regional Hospital.
“This costs the hospital up to two million euro per annum and puts services in the hospital under threat as hospitals with higher status are prioritised.”
The TD pointed out that Sligo is designated as a Regional Hospital despite having five
thousand less inpatients in 2011 and ranking as the 17th highest in the state. Sligo Regional Hospital also receives a higher annual budget than LGH.
He continued: “Despite this scandal, Letterkenny General Hospital management and
staff have somehow managed to repeatedly make LGH one of the most efficiently run hospitals in the state according to the HSE’s own statistics.
“Rather than being rewarded for their remarkable achievements, the management and staff at LGH have now being utterly shafted and ordered to make further drastic cutbacks that will undoubtedly force them into similar decisions like the downgrading of the Gynae ward.”
Sinn Fein say all public representatives must now unite together and fight against
this scandal and injustice.
“My colleague, Deputy Doherty has requested that all Oireachtas members in the county support his request for a meeting between them and Minister James Reilly to discuss these matters. The people of Donegal deserve fairness and justice,” said Deputy MacLochlainn.
It has been confirmed to Donegal’s Oireachtas members in recent days that the hospital faces over 3.5 million euro in Government enforced cuts between now and the rest of 2012, approximately €900,000 per month.
Deputy Doherty has written to all Oireachtas members in the county inviting them to seek a collective meeting as soon as possible with Minister Reilly.
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