A LARGE crowd has turned out to support the staff and patients of St. Josephs Hospital in Stranorlar.
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Cora Harvey welcomed community support in the wider Twin Towns and Finn Valley community.
“It was great to see such a large turnout of over a 150 people out to support our local hospital. Service users, staff, ex staff and relatives showed up in support,” she said.
“The fact that so many political representatives turned out also shows the depth of feeling on this issue, what’s more everyone has the one agenda and it was very clear that there is going to be a loud call from Donegal to lift the Moratorium on recruitment. Clearly all present wants to protect current service level and also want investment in to local Community Hospitals.
“There was a presence at the meeting from other hospital lobby groups such as Cllr Maire Therese Gallagher from Dungloe and Joe Hegarty from Carndonagh which shows the impact that service cuts are having across the County.
“It was evident from the floor that some of the changes that are currently taking place within the hospital are already causing anxiety for service users such as that of mixed wards and the movement of patients from one ward to another. We need to look at the rational for this and see if there are alternatives.”
Cllr Harvey continued: “Deputy Pearse Doherty who was also present at the meeting had already secured a meeting with local HSE management for Monday next and it was agreed from the meeting that a committee would be formed to drive the campaign forward, and a delegation from this committee led by Deputy Doherty would meet on Monday.”
Cllr Harvey also said that this is one part of the jigsaw and it would be important that the issue is kept alive. A facebook page has been set up were local people can post suggestions or comments and feed in to the committee.
Deputy Doherty spoke of a common sense approach and very much emphasised for the need for the Moratorium to be lifted in order to enhance staff numbers so that a safe working environment could be achieved for both staff and patients.
Concluding Cllr Harvey said: “We will meet on Monday and plan the next steps from there, we need to support staff and patients and also lobby on behalf of local management for more resources, we are very much engaged with local management and want to help the process and be a workable part of the solution.”
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