Pearse Doherty TD
Sinn Féin Donegal TD Pearse Doherty has today labelled the failure to reinstate ante-natal and gynaecology clinics at Dungloe Community Hospital as ‘utterly disgraceful’ and has called on the Minister for Health to take urgent action to restore the service which has not operated since having been suspended in November 2014.
Deputy Doherty’s comments come following correspondence received from Letterkenny Hospital management in which a failure to successfully recruit a locum replacement Consultant Obstetrician is cited as the principle reason for the service not having yet recommenced.
Management has also confirmed that it has yet to receive formal approval for the recruitment of a permanent replacement, leading Deputy Doherty to call on the Minister to intervene in the matter.
Deputy Doherty told Donegal Daily today: “At the end of November 2014 a decision was made to suspend ante-natal and gynaecology services at Dungloe Community Hospital due to the prolonged un-planned sick leave of key personnel.
“While I understand that the staff member in question returned to work shortly after this, an overall review of the service and its functions was subsequently initiated which meant that the clinic was not to recommence until this review was formally completed.
“The HSE confirmed to me that following the review into ante-natal and gynaecology services in Dungloe that the recommendations made by the Directorate were to be presented to the Hospital Executive Board and the Primary Care Management Teams.
“A service delivery model was to be developed and then presented to the Donegal Clinical Society before it would finally be handed over to the Saolta Women and Children’s Clinical Directorate and the Executive Board of Letterkenny Hospital whom would make a decision on the future of ante-natal care provision in the county, including at Dungloe.
“The HSE informed me at the time that I would be kept updated on any and all developments as part of this review process; however I have yet to receive any information relating to the recommendations made by the Clinical Directorate into the service, nor the proposals for a service delivery model.
“I decided to raise the issue with the Minister before the Christmas recess whereby I tabled a Parliamentary Question asking if the review had formally been completed, details of the overall findings and for the Minister to give a time frame as to when the clinics would resume.
“I have now received a response to my questions from hospital management which has cited the recent resignation of a Consultant Obstetrician and the failure to successfully recruit a locum replacement as the reason why the clinics have not been reinstated at Dungloe.
“The correspondence fails to give any date for when it’s expected that the service will be operational again and – shockingly – it’s revealed that approval has not yet been granted for the hospital to recruit a permanent replacement to the vacant post.
“This situation is utterly disgraceful and this matter now calls on the Minister to intervene in order to resolve this shameful impassé.
“Ante-natal and gynaecology services are of huge benefit to the hundreds of women in West Donegal who have availed of these clinics throughout the years, and the fact that service users have been let down like this is simply appalling and cannot go on much longer.
“Between 2010 and 2014 over 1,200 women attended these clinics at Dungloe Community Hospital illustrating the demand and confidence which people have in the service as well as in the hospital itself, and yet the Minister has sat on his hands for over a year now while expectant mothers have been forced to travel elsewhere to avail of treatment.
“I will now use the return of the Dáil next week to raise this issue with the Minister once again where I will demand that he reinstates this service and allows it to once again carry out its work in a safe and professional manner as it has always done for women and families in West Donegal.”
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