POLITICS: Sinn Féin Councillor and General Election Candidate Cllr Gary Doherty has commended the people of Donegal for the huge turnout for last night’s public meeting regarding the future of Donegal Community Hospitals.
The meeting was organized in opposition to government plans to replace long stay residential nursing beds at St Joseph’s, Lifford and Ramelton Community Hospitals.
Speaking at the meeting held in the Finn Valley Centre in Stranorlar, Cllr Doherty said, “I was born in Lifford hospital myself and this issue is very close to my heart.
“I have been contacted by members of the local community and personnel at these facilities and many have expressed their concerns that these hospitals were being closed by stealth and that bit by bit services were being removed.
“We’ve seen a 22% reduction to staff at St Joseph’s in the last five years, with the removal of 42 members of staff.
“We’ve seen bed numbers half in Lifford, reduced from 40 down to 20 within the last number of years also.
“The issue here in the Finn Valley is that if you tell people that, during what could potentially be their last days when they are weak and infirm, they cannot be cared for in their local hospitals, but instead have to go to a new hospital in Letterkenny, then that simply isn’t good enough.
“We as a community cannot allow this to happen, and thankfully we are all wearing the same jersey here and this issue cannot be used as political football, we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet.
“The bottom line is this: these community hospitals cannot be allowed to close.”
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